Bryan Strawser

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Federal Judge Rules Part Of DOMA Unconstitutional | TPM LiveWire

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What?! You mean the power of the federal government isn’t unlimited? Shocking.

A federal judge ruled today that part of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

Judge Joseph Tauro, of U.S. District Court in Boston, issued rulings on two separate cases today.

"This court has determined that it is clearly within the authority of the Commonwealth to recognize same-sex marriages among its residents, and to afford those individuals in same-sex marriages any benefits, rights, and privileges to which they are entitled by virtue of their marital status," Tauro wrote in the decision for Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services.

"The federal government, by enacting and enforcing DOMA, plainly encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state, and, in doing so, offends the Tenth Amendment. For that reason, the statute is invalid," he wrote.

In the other case, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, Tauro ruled that DOMA violates the equal protection principles in the Fifth Amendment, according to Bay Windows. From his decision (PDF):

via Federal Judge Rules Part Of DOMA Unconstitutional | TPM LiveWire.

At least one liberal gets the 2nd amendment

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And he’s posting Over at the DailyKOS of all places – in this piece Why Liberals should love the Second Amendment:

When it comes to discussing the Second Amendment, liberals check rational thought at the door. They dismiss approximately 40% of American households that own one or more guns, and those who fight to protect the Second Amendment, as “gun nuts.” They argue for greater restrictions. And they pursue these policies at the risk of alienating voters who might otherwise vote for Democrats.

And they do so in a way that is wholly inconsistent with their approach to all of our other civil liberties.

Those who fight against Second Amendment rights cite statistics about gun violence, as if such numbers are evidence enough that our rights should be restricted. But Chicago and Washington DC, the two cities from which came the most recent Supreme Court decisions on Second Amendment rights, had some of the most restrictive laws in the nation, and also some of the highest rates of violent crime. Clearly, such restrictions do not correlate with preventing crime.

So rather than continuing to fight for greater restrictions on Second Amendment rights, it is time for liberals to defend Second Amendment rights as vigorously as they fight to protect all of our other rights. Because it is by fighting to protect each right that we protect all rights.

The author goes on to write quite an impressive piece. There’s already nearly two thousand comments as of the time of this writing, I’m sure there will be more soon.

Godwin’s Law at its best

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Patriotism leads to fascism:

You see, I don’t believe in patriotism.

You can call me unpatriotic if you’d like, but really I’m anti-patriotic.

I’ve been studying fascism lately, and there is one inescapable fact about it:

  • Nationalism is the egg that hatches fascism.
  • And patriotism is but the father of nationalism.
  • Patriotism is not something to play with. It’s highly toxic. When ingested, it corrodes the rational faculties.
  • It gulls people into believing their leaders.
  • It masks those who benefit most from state policy.
  • And it destroys the ability of people to get together, within the United States and across boundaries, to take on those with the most power: the multinational corporation.

  • Plus, it’s a war toy, wheeled out whenever a leader needs to improve his ratings by attacking some other country—often after invoking God’s name, too.

Who knew!

MacDonald v. Chicago, or “I told you so”, round two.

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Just as the court found in DC v Heller about two years ago, this morning, the United States Supreme Court upheld the meaning of the Second Amendment. This time, by incorporating this right against state and local government, and declaring that it is indeed a “fundamental right”.

The New York Times puts it this way:

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said the right to self-defense protected by the Second Amendment was fundamental to the American conception of ordered liberty. Like other provisions of the Bill of Rights setting out such fundamental protections, he said, it must be applied to limit not only federal power but also that of state and local governments.

The ruling is an enormous symbolic victory for supporters of gun rights, but its short-term practical effect is unclear. As in the Heller decision, the justices left for another day just what kinds of gun control laws can be reconciled with Second Amendment protection. The majority said little more than that there is a right to keep handguns in the home for self-defense.

Some folks like to tell me I’m naive about some things, but generally I have always read the Constitution for what it is, the highest law in the land… and in my world that means “shall not be infringed” means… well, shall not be infringed.

Now that the two landmark cases are out of the way – DC v Heller where we learn the Second Amendment really is an individual right, and MacDonald v. Chicago, where we learn it truly is a fundamental right, I’m curious how the court begins to interpret these two rulings in the context of the morass that is state, local, and federal firearms laws.

Of course, the New York Times editorial board has a few thoughts on the matter that won’t be in line with my own….

The Insurrection

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Over at Red State, Erick Erickson lays it all out:

Conservatives have nothing else to do but fight back, in defense of their values. And they are doing so today – because despite what the elites in Washington believe, conservatism is not just a set of talking points. It is not what you say at rallies to take money from the pockets of conservative Americans. It is not what other people tell you to say when you’re in public, and laugh about when you’re in private.

Conservatism is a philosophy of the proper role of government rooted firmly in the values free people across the world have believed in for centuries, and Americans have fought and died to defend. And it is not for sale.

This is our new reality.

WSJ profiles NJ Governor Chris Christie

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Now here’s a Governor that I could get behind:

As you can imagine, the Christie agenda is not wildly popular among presidents of government-employee unions. To put it more precisely, Mr. Christie is now in a political street fight with the head of the New Jersey Education Association, the teachers union that spent millions last year to defeat him.

NJEA President Barbara Keshishian visited his office this week to apologize for a recent email sent to thousands of teachers by a union official that included a mock prayer for the governor’s death. According to Mr. Christie, the conversation went something like this: He accepted her apology immediately but asked if the email sender would be fired for “doing something that monumentally stupid.” When the union chief questioned why the man should be fired, Mr. Christie promptly ended the meeting.

Gaming the Healthcare System in Massachusetts

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I am shocked, *shocked* that someone would do something like this:

Thousands of consumers are gaming Massachusetts’ 2006 health insurance law by buying insurance when they need to cover pricey medical care, such as fertility treatments and knee surgery, and then swiftly dropping coverage, a practice that insurance executives say is driving up costs for other people and small businesses.

Source: Boston Globe.