Supreme Court Watch: Workplace Discrimination and Separation of Powers

It’s been some time since I’ve covered cases of note on the Court. In the interim, rulings have been issued that have opined on abortion and antitrust cases, to name two issues of note.

The Court will end its current Term sometime in the next six to eight weeks whereupon it will then recess for the summer. The next Term will begin on Monday, 1 October 2007.

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Title VII and Employment Discrimination

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court split rather predictably by a 5-4 vote in the case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire (05-1074). At issue before the Court was a lawsuit regarding compensatory discrimination that had the unfortunate instance of having surpassed its statute of limitations. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court, whilst Justice Ginsburg took the unusual step of reading her dissent from the bench.

David Savage opines on Ledbetter here.

Here is an audio analysis by Dahlia Lithwick, of Slate, courtesy of NPR.com.

Here is an illuminative discussion on the effects of Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement last year and the rightward shift of the Court’s composition.

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Cameras in the Courtroom

S. 344 has been introduced into the Senate as of 22 January 2007 with the express purpose of mandating that Supreme Court proceedings be televised for the general public. Senators Specter (R-PA), Grassley (R-IA), Durbin (D-IL), Schumer (D-NY) and Feingold (D-WI) are co-sponsors. The bill is similar to H.R. 1299 and has had a substantial number of hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary.

“The day you see a camera come into our courtroom it’s going to roll over my dead body.” — Justice David Souter, in response to a Congressional inquiry in 1996

Significant opposition lies amongst the justices with respect to this issue, both in terms of the Court as an institution and with regard to potential separation of powers issues. For a summary of comments made by sitting justices, click here.

Michigan Law Review has an online symposium on cameras in the Courtroom which you can view by clicking here.

Orin Kerr responds with a tentative “yes” at The Volokh Conspiracy.

A partial transcript containing Senator Specter’s remarks can be seen here.

I know this blog has a number of readers of all ideological stripes. I have to confess that I’m torn between the need for transparency in government (i.e., a more knowledgeable populace has the capability to make wiser, better informed decisions) and preserving the aura and dignity of an institution (i.e., the Justices should refrain from sensationalizing their duties). The problem is that there seems to be very little in the way of established judicial precedent that could prevent the bill from taking effect were it signed into law by President Bush.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this issue.

Snapshot

In the photograph that hangs
on the wall of your study,
you imagine a secret garden filled with flowers –
daffodils, crocuses, a sea of tulips

an image in stark repose. In this shot
of yesterday, the garden you imagine
lies between two apartment buildings,

an incongruous oasis
in spite of all the brick, stone
and steel amidst the city.

And you imagine someone,
perhaps it is you, in the corner
of the photograph,

a child looking over
a whitewashed fence to where
his uncle nails together piece
by careful piece, a treehouse
with a miniature swing.

In reality, you once watched him,
that uncle beyond the fence,
with your own trust in miracles
at age seven.

On the wall
where the photograph hangs,
memory manifests an aroma
as sharp as sweat from afternoon work,
or perhaps like the sweet odor of dirt
freshly turned up by a spade.

What are these things that attract us,
these strangers who mingle among us,
who are as the air we breathe,
who give and take away.

Threshold

If surgery were possible
it could relieve his heart condition;
if not possible, then bypass.
But there is slippage now,
and test results indicate
his kidneys are failing.

James is anciently frail in this room
with a view of the East River.

He fades in to recognize me,
fades out to remember me,
means to speak coherently
but his words are amorphous –
they smell of yesterday

He talks about the sheets
and their blueness, then
struggles at his restraints,
his clothes. He says he wants
to walk again and misses

sidewalks and meadows,
those white sandy dunes
where we spent our summers

how he’d like to read a novel
but the morphine shattered his focus,
absently points to his name
on a hospital tag

I find things to read to him
it calms him to hear a friend,
soothes him to sleep as he
stares through the window
with the view of the river below,
until my voice becomes
distant

Falai

Chef Iacopo Falai, formerly of Le Cirque 2000, opened Falai in February 2005. The restaurant features authentic Italian cuisine with an ambitious scope generally not seen in the Lower East Side.

Amuse-bouche: honeydew, prosciutto, garlic almond gazpacho.

2004 Ronco delle Beutulle, Tocai Friulano, Friuli

Polenta, chicken livers, dried dates, wild mushrooms, 15 year old aceto balsamico tradizionale.

This was touted as a “must order”. I thought cardboard had more character. Has the kitchen embraced the idea of salt? Looks pretty though.

Green pea tagliatelle, fava beans, zucchini flowers, black truffles.

By the way, this dish was better than sex and that’s saying something. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. In retrospect, those were the truffles speaking. They overwhelmed the flavor of the sauce coating the tagliatelle.

Branzino wrapped in potato, leeks, white asparagus, huckleberry sauce.

2004 Albani Riesling, Lombardia

It’s difficult to make asparagus flavorless but somehow, the kitchen managed to accomplish it. Huckleberry sauce did nothing for the dish and could’ve used a touch of acid to enliven things.

Berries and Meyer lemon in white rum.

Pecorino foglia di noce, caramelized walnuts dipped in five-spice powder, dried figs, walnut cream

2002 Montetondo, Recioto di Soave, Venice

Out of 10? An upper range 5 to borderline 6. I had heard so much about Falai from friends, not to mention Adam Platt’s review painted a rosy picture. Who knows? I could’ve ordered wrong. The kitchen could’ve had an off night. These things happen. They’re charging midtown prices in a downtown setting. For $130, I shouldn’t have to pay for mediocrity.

Will I be back? Perhaps once in a blue moon. The neat thing about New York is that there are a million restaurants out there and not enough days in the year to try them all.

Falai is located at 68 Clinton Street (Rivington Street) in the Lower East Side.

Hearth

Previous dinners at Hearth can be seen here and here.

Chilled asparagus soup, chervil, peekytoe crab, croutons.

2006 Moschofilero, Mantinia, Tselepos, Greece

Quail, slow poached quail egg, tomato confit, Portuguese chantrelles, zucchini, balsamic gastrique.

Fava bean ricotta tortelli, Gulf shrimp, fava beans, tarragon, white asparagus, lemon.

2003 Beui Ri Bre, Bierzo Alto, Leon, Spain

Sturgeon, Rancho Gordo beans, bacon, sage.

Poached organic chicken, chicken confit, Swiss chard, black truffle, hen of the woods mushrooms.

Chocolate panna cotta, wild strawberries.

Persian lime tart, whipped cream, candied limes, pistachio crumble.

Hearth is located at 403 East 12th Street (1st Avenue) in the East Village.

All About Clarence Thomas

Q:  Many discussions of Justice Thomas’s jurisprudence begin with his stance against affirmative action. Can you talk about what the key steps in his life were that shaped his views on the issue? How has occupying the seat once held by Thurgood Marshall – whom you note was nicknamed “Mr. Civil Rights” – affected the public’s view of him and his jurisprudence?

A:  It seems that Justice Thomas’s opposition to affirmative action is rooted in his experience at Yale Law School. There he discovered that most of his black colleagues were from middle- and upper-middle class backgrounds. And, frankly, he questioned why they should benefit from affirmative action. Meanwhile, he felt that many white students questioned his presence at Yale and he saw affirmative action was part of the reason they did. Thomas thinks affirmative action makes it easy for people to diminish black achievement. Later, Thomas had a hard time reconciling affirmative action with his reading of the Constitution, which he feels prohibits any sorting by race. Of course, much of that is in direct opposition to the views of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall who viewed affirmative action as a meager tool to compensate for centuries of state-sanctioned discrimination. “Without race conscious policies, what would the nation’s police departments, fire departments, corporate offices, elite universities and even Congress look like?” Marshall might ask. Thomas, the nation’s second black justice, is always going to be compared to Marshall, who was the nation’s first black justice. Moreover, as race seems to have been a factor in nearly every step of Thomas’s rapid rise all the way to the Supreme Court, many critics view Thomas’s opposition to affirmative action as being in conflict with his own biography.

SCOTUSblog has an illuminative discussion regarding Justice Thomas’ views on affirmative action and his role on the Court amongst other topics. Click here for part 1 and here for part 2.

On a side note, regular posting will continue in a few days. It’s been an incredibly busy two weeks so far.

Silver Surfing

I’m a little curious as to how they’ll depict the big G.

Spidey 3 sucked, XMen 3 sucked.  Wonder if Rise of the Silver Surfer will continue the trend?

In other news, there’s been talk of an X4. Enough with the sequels already!
 

Election 2008: Recurring Nightmare

Faster than a speeding bullet.

Less original than he thinks.

Consistently disappoints by misspeaking.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Senator Superfutz, a recurring nightmare that just won’t go away, Mr. Joe Biden.

Remember Senator Macaca? He lost his re-election bid after a little racist slip that followed him all through last autumn. Mr. Biden isn’t new to slip-ups of his own. From Indian-Americans and Dunkin Donuts to articulate and bright young men, Senator Superfutz is regularly afflicted with symptoms common to those who suffer from diarrhea of the mouth. Memo to campaign aides: be sure to budget a spittoon in case of emergency.

Senator Superfutz maintains that he represents the sensible center of America. Let’s borrow a page from Joan Rivers. Can we talk?

Not only does he support the war in Iraq, he’s never been shy about declaring “the need for more troops“.

Nice speech though. I give it a moderate 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, mostly for histrionics.

Besides, I thought the country wanted OUT of the war given the results of last November’s vote. Silly me.

Senator Superfutz wants you to believe that he stands for the middle class, yet he voted for the bankruptcy reform bill that took effect on 20 April 2005, a law that is of seemingly dubious public benefit.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. Mr. Superfutz is a master of looking at people straight in the eye and saying something is when it isn’t. I mean, c’mon, the facial resemblance between he and Neil Kinnock is simply astounding.

Next: Al Gore

Gym Journal: Squat Bucket

I’m in serious danger of falling off the wagon. I haven’t been to the gym as regularly as I’d like to be. In fact, things haven’t been consistent ever since last November.

Morning session today:

+W indicates weight increase
+R indicates rep increase
+! indicates PR
* indicates warmup set

Medicine ball crunches: BWx10, BWx12, BWx10
Squats: barx8*, 65×7, 75×8, 75×7
Hamstring curl: 60×8x3
Angled calf raises: 90×8, 110×8x2
Standing calf raises: 100×8, 125×8, 125×7

Notes:

I went light last time on angled calf raises. This is more along the lines of where I should be, weight-wise. I’ll be upping things next session.

Nothing special to report in other news. I have difficulties coming out of the hole on squats but that’s nothing that can’t improve over time. I had my trainer take a vid of me squatting to parallel but for some reason he’s not able to e-mail it as the file size is too large. I’d like to have it burned onto a DVD so I can post it for people to critique. ATF will never happen. Well…maybe if Uncle Paul trained me in person.

And that’s that. Nothing like a morning workout to ramp up the famous appetite. It’s only 10:30 am and I’ve already had two shakes. I’m about to get some food (technically Second Breakfast) in a few minutes.

“Challenges”, Part 2

Wherein an assassin faces the problem of seeking out his prey….

After a surreptitious visit to the Mage Guild for a travel spell, Shalas appeared in Mel Nethra accompanied by a brilliant blue light. He stayed crouched for a few minutes, listening and watching for any guards that may have noted his entrance in this dark alley. His elven eyesight noticed various patrons of the taverns meandering down the road but they paid him no mind. He was shrouded in shadow, invisible to all but the most determined trackers and there were none of those looking for him tonight. All three moons were full but thick clouds drifted through the night sky obscuring them and pulled a veiled curtain on their light.

Keeping his back to the wall, Shalas quickly shifted to a crouch on the edge of the brick tavern he had teleported next to. He peered around the corner of the wall surrounding the Imperial palace. The guards were right where he wanted them. He crept up next to the wall, keeping his gaze fixed on the guards high above him. Leaping quietly up onto the tavern he immediately pressed his back to the wall and waited. If his timing was right there would be a guard change soon, leaving him a small window of time to get inside the wall unseen. He was right, as barely audible footsteps above him signified that fresh eyes, ears, and bows would replace the weary ones.

Shalas turned and faced the wall. From his crouched position he shot straight up, grabbing the lip of the wall with his fingertips. It was an impossible leap for an average person, but he was no average person. He was a master assassin and no mere wall would stop him from completing his assignment. His strong arms threatened to rip the tight fabric of his armor as he pulled himself up to get a better view of the guards. Five of them, with wooden bows in hand and full quivers on their backs. They wore light armor with swords strapped to their sides. As they gossiped among themselves about the latest rumors, Shalas took the opportunity to heave himself over the lip of the wall and dart swiftly across to the other side.

He wasted no time hopping over the battlements and, turning in mid-air, grabbed the lip of the inside wall. The black-clad assassin hung for a moment listening intently for any alerts. Apart from the guards, all was silent. He let go of the wall and dropped lightly onto the shingled roof of the log recruiting building like a silent, deadly, black raindrop. Moving quickly, Shalas swung over the edge of the squat building and snaked his way to the wall of the palace. The stealthy intruder pressed against the wall as much as he could as two heavily armored guards clanked by, none the wiser to his presence and the threat to the Emperor.

The front doors would be locked so he would need to find an alternate entry point. Not that a locked door would keep him out, but the front doors of the Imperial Palace would be well guarded and the torches around it would make it impossible to get in unseen. On the front door his silent lock picks would serve as much purpose as a noisy battering ram. Shalas scanned the wall and selected a small window about ten feet up to make his entry. He crept down the side of the wall while glancing about in every direction as he carefully made his way along the cold stone wall to the window.

It was another easy leap up to the window. He pulled himself nimbly through the small opening and sat with his legs hanging outside even as he inspected a long slightly curving torch-lit hallway. It was a ten foot drop to the stone floor but Shalas wasn’t planning on walking down with the guards. Above him were brown wooden beams spanning the hallway. They were spaced a few feet apart and would make an excellent road for a highly trained and very acrobatic assassin.

Shalas scrabbled inside and pushed off the wall at an angle, then grabbed a beam and swung himself onto it without a sound. He leapt from beam to beam down the hallway—a deadly shadow closing in on its prey.

(to be continued)