The internets, how do they work?
The already ridiculously old and technologically impaired Supreme Court of the United States of America has come down with a bad case of link rot. The NY Times brings us news of a new study by the Harvard Law School that finds almost half of all hyperlinks referenced in Supreme Court decisions are now defunct. Now what the hell does that actually mean? Continue reading
There were 77 cases argued before the US Supreme Court in the 2012 October Term. The Court has yet to issue decisions on 3 cases and will do so on June 26th. Continue reading
So today and tomorrow the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments on CA’s Prop 8 (Overturned in the 2010 case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger )and the U.S.’ s DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by the Big Dog himself Bill Clinton in 1996.) Continue reading
LET THE SHAMELESS COMMENT WHORING BEGIN. Continue reading
Today, the nation awaits the fate of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known to some people as “Obamacare.” Will we join other civilized societies and provide healthcare for the people of the United States or will we continue the broken system of for-an-insane-amount-of-profit privatized health care for the fortunate. Continue reading
On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case on affirmative action in university admissions. This case, like the landmark 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision, involves a white student who applied to a public university and was denied– and, according to the plaintiff, Abigail Fisher, minority students with lower scores than hers were admitted. In Grutter, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of quota systems for racial minorities in public university admissions was unconstitutional, but it also held that admissions committees may use race as one of a myriad factors that go into the admissions process– not unlike the way admissions committees favor students who are legacies or those who hail from Barrow, Alaska (so that they can claim in brochures that they attract students from all fifty states–and Guam!). In other words, race might be a factor that gives your application a little nudge toward the top of the pile, but it can’t be the sole determining factor in an admission decision. Continue reading
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a teenage girl who was dismissed from her high school’s cheerleading squad after refusing to cheer for the young man who raped her. (He is a member of the basketball team; he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor to avoid jail time.)
