The Blue Elephant Brigade

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:41 am Post subject:

Over at SCOTUSblog.com they are live blogging the Supreme Court opinions being released, starting at 10:00am. They are also guessing that the ACA related opinions won't come until next week, although it could happen today.

Edit: Here's a "plain english" listing of the remaining cases for this SCOTUS term: http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/remaining-merits-cases-in-plain-english-2/
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The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:27 am Post subject:

Madhatte, I'm sad to announce that the SCOTUS wimped out on the FCC v. Fox case. While they sided with Fox, the SCOTUS didn't take the opportunity to redefine the FCC's standing with regard to the First Amendment.
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:29 am Post subject:

No ACA today. Looks like we will be starting out with 1/3 straight odds of it being released on Monday.
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Madhatte · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:52 pm Post subject:

oh for crap sake
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Trassin · Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:43 am Post subject:

ACA opinions may very well be released within the next 2 hours!

http://scotusblog.wpengine.com/
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Trassin · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:46 am Post subject:

S.B. 1070 Opinion in plain english: http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/s-b-1070-in-plain-english/
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Akuma · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:24 am Post subject:

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:25 am Post subject:

Holy shit, they found the IM constitutional.
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:36 am Post subject:

From SCOTUSblog, "In Plain English: The Affordable Care Act, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional. There were not five votes to uphold it on the ground that Congress could use its power to regulate commerce between the states to require everyone to buy health insurance. However, five Justices agreed that the penalty that someone must pay if he refuses to buy insurance is a kind of tax that Congress can impose using its taxing power. That is all that matters. Because the mandate survives, the Court did not need to decide what other parts of the statute were constitutional, except for a provision that required states to comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid or risk losing their funding. On that question, the Court held that the provision is constitutional as long as states would only lose new funds if they didn't comply with the new requirements, rather than all of their funding."
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Trassin · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 4:35 am Post subject:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how the decision ended up going in favor of the mandate.

Roberts found that it was in violation of the commerce clause, which gives 5 justices finding it unconstitutional. But he found it was a tax under congress's ability to imposes taxes, making it constitutional, which gives it 5 justices in support of it as a tax.

How that math ends up with it being constitutional, instead of unconstitutional makes no sense to me. I'm currently waiting for the constitutional law blogs I follow to give me a bit better of an explanation.

For the moment though, I feel like someone told me "5 - 5 = A Goat".
_________________
The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. - Albert Einstein
"Raccoons oscillate at 50Hz in Europe." - FAWBOTS
"I'm not sure I'm up for orgy scrabble parties" - Female Friend

Akuma · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:15 am Post subject:

Because they decided that it fell under the category of the latter, and not the former, is my understanding.
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"The problem with quotes on the Internet is the validity of them." -Abraham Lincoln

Exzavier · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:23 am Post subject:

The way read it is that they cannot force everyone to buy health care however it is legal for the federal government to impose a tax on people who do not have/buy health care.
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Mongolio · Brigadier Elite Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 4976

I am not a law-type person (someone has to comment on the irony so everyone understands it), so how does that requirement work with unemployed on state Medicaids?
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Core meltdown (commonly known as a meltdown) is an accident scenario in nuclear reactors, and is one of the possible modes of failure for light water reactors, during which the reactor pile turns into a pile of reactor.
---RationalWiki

If Jesus had existed, his DNA would have been 99% similar to that of a chimpanzee. Or you. You're 99% Jesus.
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Exzavier · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:42 am Post subject:

INSANE!

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Court-Warrantless-Domestic-Spying-is-AOK-120679

The one and only case to successfully challenge Bush area domestic spying operations has been shot dead by an appeals court. The government may continue to engage in domestic surveillance without warrants and without fear of being sued. "This case effectively brings to an end the plaintiffs’ ongoing attempts to hold the executive branch responsible for intercepting telephone conversations without judicial authorization," a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in their ruling (pdf). The domestic spying program was unearthed by the New York Times in 2005; later leaks indicated carriers like AT&T helped the government spy on citizens by providing wholesale direct access to all data that crosses their networks.
_________________
"Fuckin' Amesome" --- Joe Flacco
"I love watching special effects on my iPad." ---Howard Stern

Exzavier · Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:26 pm Post subject:

So my post on reddit got some comments about this topic:

Judge rules Facebook "Like" button unprotected speech

The workers sued, saying their rights were violated. But a U.S. District Judge ruled that simply clicking the "like" option wasn't sufficient enough for First Amendment protection.

http://www.nbc12.com/story/19230918/judge-rules-facebook-like-button-unprotected-speech

http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/xxs8r/us_district_judge_ruled_that_simply_clicking_the/
_________________
"Fuckin' Amesome" --- Joe Flacco
"I love watching special effects on my iPad." ---Howard Stern

Exzavier · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:53 am Post subject:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/15/sixth-circuit-rules-that-law-enforcement-doesnt-need-a-warrant/

A recent 2 - 1 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that law enforcement agencies can obtain cellphone location data, without the need for a warrant. The decision comes after a defendant in a drug-related case claimed protection from his phone's GPS location data being used under the Fourth Amendment. Judge John Rogers stated that the defendant didn't have a reasonable expectation of privacy for data given off by a voluntarily purchased phone, going on to state that if tools used in such crimes give off a trackable signal, police should be allowed to use it.
_________________
"Fuckin' Amesome" --- Joe Flacco
"I love watching special effects on my iPad." ---Howard Stern

Exzavier · Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:34 am Post subject:

So aereo designed their TV system to match the cablevision ruling about remote DVRs.

Now cablevision is claiming the ruling does not apply to aereo; haha!

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121023/02391420798/aereo-has-no-one-noticed-its-insane-that-were-being-accused-infringing-because-we-carefully-followed-cablevision-precedent.shtml
_________________
"Fuckin' Amesome" --- Joe Flacco
"I love watching special effects on my iPad." ---Howard Stern

Exzavier · Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:24 am Post subject:

Not Supreme Court but after read this; this case is very important:

"But in February the Buckyballs saga took a chilling turn: The commission filed a motion requesting that Mr. Zucker be held personally liable for the costs of the recall, which it estimated at $57 million, if the product was ultimately determined to be defective."

The government is saying the CEO of Buckyballs is personally responsible for the recall and may owe $57 million. That is crazy! Let's have the Ford, Toyota and GM CEOs pay out some money.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324108204579023143974408428.html
_________________
"Fuckin' Amesome" --- Joe Flacco
"I love watching special effects on my iPad." ---Howard Stern

Mongolio · Brigadier Elite Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 4976

Nothing stifles innovation like having a single person, instead of the company entity, be responsible for their products. I sure as hell wouldn't want to do anything new if I were going to be personally, financially responsible for a product I didn't personally create and test.
_________________
Core meltdown (commonly known as a meltdown) is an accident scenario in nuclear reactors, and is one of the possible modes of failure for light water reactors, during which the reactor pile turns into a pile of reactor.
---RationalWiki

If Jesus had existed, his DNA would have been 99% similar to that of a chimpanzee. Or you. You're 99% Jesus.
-- RationalWiki