Scalia Helped Bush Steal 2000 Election, Now Blames Gore For It

Antonio Scalia and the word 'timidity' have never gotten along, but his statements to the UK Telegraph recently were just a bit over the top, for him that is. His decisions from the bench have been plenty bad over the years, but to claim that Gore is responsible for Scalia and four other justices overturning a Presidential election is just absurd.

From RawStory:

"Richard Nixon, when he lost to Kennedy thought that the election had been stolen in Chicago, which was very likely true with the system at the time," said Scalia. "But he did not even think about bringing a court challenge. That was his prerogative. So you know if you don't like it, don't blame it on me.

"I didn't bring it into the courts. Mr Gore brought it into the courts," he continued. "So if you don't like the courts getting involved talk to Mr Gore."

The first state court case in Florida was filed by Palm Beach County voters who felt they were disenfranchised by the infamous butterfly ballot design. It was the Bush Cheney campaign who first took the case to federal court, filing a federal lawsuit on Nov. 11, 2000. A complete timeline of the Florida fiasco is available here.

He went on to say he regretted being a part of it all and blah, blah, blah. Though how can you trust that if he doesn't even remember how it all went down? Scalia doesn't pay attention to the facts on most things, as Dean calls him, "intellectually bankrupt" along with the other four that decided for Bush and on all other matters he simply toes the radically conservative line, being as active as he can for the neo-con movement.

Guns, Guns And More Guns

The Supreme Court has certainly been very busy this week handing out their judgments on various cases, from ruling on child rape to letting ExxonMobil get away with a slap on the wrist. Today, their big decision was to expand the second amendment like no one has before. The Court struck down a handgun law in Washington, D.C. that stood for more than thirty years and made the N.R.A. jump for joy (and the founding fathers, I assume, roll over in their graves).

From The Huffington Post:

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most federal firearms restrictions intact.

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty responded with a plan to require residents of the nation's capital to register their handguns. "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence," Fenty said.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

What Scalia and his merry band of followers forget is that Constitution is a living, breathing document and when the Second Amendment was written, we lived in a much different America. In 1791, Americans protected themselves from various threats that the government was ill-equipped for, now we have a military with a budget of over half a trillion dollars. Early Americans also hunted in greater percentages to feed their families, now most people hunt in the supermarket.

Now this doesn't mean we can't own guns, but there should be certain limits in our (hopefully) more civilized society. The fact is, having more handguns means more people will die, whether it be from random accidents, domestic disputes or whatever.

Scalia's Daughter Charged With DUI And Child Endangerment

Although the Supreme Court justice has never been charged with this crime, I still say the apple doesn't fall from the tree. Dear daughter Ann was stopped in the town of Wheaton, Illinois with her three small children in the van with her. Apparently someone at a McDonalds saw what appeared to be a drunken driver and reported it to the authorities.

From The Chicago Tribune:

Ann S. Banaszewski, 45, was stopped about 7:25 p.m. in a 1996 Ford Econoline van near Gamon Road and Longfellow Drive after a citizen reported a possible drunken driver was at the McDonald's restaurant near there, Meloni said.

Three of Banaszewski's "small children" were in the van with her at the time, leading to the child endangerment charge, Meloni said. He would not disclose their ages. Meloni would also not disclose details of her alleged intoxication, but said she submitted to a field sobriety test, though he could not disclose its outcome.

Thomas Meloni, the police chief of Wheaton knew about their 'Supreme Court daughter' resident and frequently patrolled her neighborhood due to her status. The children were dropped off at a family friends' house and she was taken to the local police station and released.