Tag Archives: Clarence Thomas

The New Yorker Picks On Scalia

By Shawn Paul

In its March 28 issue, The New Yorker published an article titled “Bitter Scalia Leaves U.S.,” by Andy Borowitz in his Borowitz Report.

The article presents Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s supposed decision to resign from the Court and leave the United States. It also quotes Scalia as saying that this past week of hearings concerning same-sex marriage had been “by far the worst week of my life.” The article went on to include contrived quotes about his considered choices of new national citizenship and described his supposed angry outburst at his fellow Justices upon his dramatic exit. The article closed with an inclusion of a stoic and immovable Clarence Thomas, presented as Scalia’s last and only friend that he was doomed to leave behind.

Though this article was posted under “humor” on New Yorker.com, it reads as a straightforward news story and offers few clues that it is intended as satire when posted elsewhere on the web.

Once an unsubscribed and unsuspecting reader is directed to the web page, the first “Subscribe” tab is seen highlighted at the top left corner of screen instead of the “Humor” tab that is found further to the right. As usual, it seems that the “humor” of this far-left rag has left those of us on the right without even a slight case of the chuckles. The only direct clue left connected to the shared or printed version of the article is the keyword “humor,” found under the keyword “Supreme Court,” underneath the body of the article’s text.

In a modern media that almost universally now attempts to appeal to a younger, “hipper” audience, it’s no wonder that The New Yorker would stoop to this level of supposed humor. This sort of article is no doubt directed to those who would also typically rely on such faux news sources as “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” in order to stay connected with current events. They all, at best, provide examples of unethical humor and offer dishonest journalism when measured by any objective standard.

For those of us who understand how the media elite operate, it’s obvious that the New Yorker, which has traditionally catered to a liberal audience, as well as Mr. Borowitz would be quick to cite their First Amendment rights to free speech and expression if they were to be challenged for such things as slander. They would likely offer the excuse that this is “a satirical piece,” not intended to be taken seriously. Our question, then, is why is the joke so well guarded and so devoid of humor for the objective consumer?

The objective consumer already knows the answer to this question. The New Yorker and others are attempting to once again redefine journalism under the guise and protection of satire and the same First Amendment that they so vigorously attack when “freely” expressed by those with an informed or opposing view.

There should also be no wonder that Justice Clarence Thomas is connected to Scalia in this article, as liberal …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Supreme Court Conservatives Split Over Drug-Sniffing Dog

By Daniel Fisher, Forbes Staff

The myth of a U.S. Supreme Court hopelessly divided along liberal/conservative lines took another hit today as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas split with their fellow conservatives to rule that police can’t use a drug-sniffing dog to establish probable cause for a search warrant. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Court won't allow challenge to surveillance law

A sharply-divided Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an attempt by U.S. citizens to challenge the expansion of a surveillance law used to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects.

With a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled that a group of American lawyers, journalists and organizations can’t sue to challenge the 2008 expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) because they can’t prove that the government will monitor their conversations along with those of potential foreign terrorist and intelligence targets.

Justices “have been reluctant to endorse standing theories that require guesswork,” said Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote for the court’s majority.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was enacted in 1978. It allows the government to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects abroad for intelligence purposes. The 2008 FISA amendments allow the government to obtain from a secret court broad, yearlong intercept orders, raising the prospect that phone calls and emails between those foreign targets and innocent Americans in this country would be swept under the umbrella of surveillance.

Without proof that the law would directly affect them, Americans can’t sue, Alito said in the ruling.

Despite their documented fears and the expense of activities that some Americans have taken to be sure they don’t get caught up in government monitoring, they “have set forth no specific facts demonstrating that the communications of their foreign contacts will be targeted,” he added.

Alito also said the FISA expansion merely authorizes, but does not mandate or direct, the government monitoring. Because of that, he said, “respondents’ allegations are necessarily conjectural. Simply put, respondents can only speculate as to how the attorney general and the Director of National Intelligence will exercise their discretion in determining which communications to target.”

Alito was joined in his decision by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing in dissent, said that he would have allowed the lawsuit to move forward because he thinks “the government has a strong motive to listen to conversations of the kind described.”

“We need only assume that the government is doing its job (to find out about, and combat terrorism) in order to conclude that there is a high probability that the government will intercept at least some …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Justice's Unusual Remark Is Revealed

Justice’s Unusual Remark Is Revealed

Clarence Thomas

Getty Images

Last week, Clarence Thomas spoke out in court for the first time in seven years — and the official transcript has now been made public.
Simple remark and what it may refer to

Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL