A photo blog depicting contemporary courthouses in the Western United States.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Sunday, November 1, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: Amy Coney Barrett as a Mirror
Amy Coney Barrett as a Mirror
Yesterday we published this item about long term demographic trends in the U.S.
Um, correction, we published those about long term demographic trends on Earth, and how that will, and already is, impacting culture..
Following that news, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court.
This is interesting in the context of itself, as well as the context of what we were writing about. Barrett is, in some ways, a mirror on where we are now, and where we're going.
She's also a mirror on how we view democracy itself, at an existential level. Are we for it, or against it?
Barrett's nomination angered and upset the old order liberal establishment. She appeared to be what liberals have really feared over the years but never had to really fully face, at least since the death of Scalia. A legal genius who is a textualist. And here, in a Twitter exchange between two U.S. Senators, who can see the upset distilled and refined.
First, Senator Ed Markey, a semi freshman Senator (he started finishing John Kerry's term in 2013 before being elected to his own first full term and had a long stint in Congress) from Massachusetts and then the reply from Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.
Ed Markey@SenMarkeyOriginalism is racist. Originalism is sexist. Originalism is homophobic. Originalism is just a fancy word for discrimination.1:22 PM · Oct 26, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
Senator Ben Sasse@SenSasseReplying to u/SenSasseActually, “originalism” is another way of saying that texts and words have meaning. That's not to claim that all texts and words from 1789 were correct – but that when they need to be changed, they should be changed by elected legislators, not unelected judges.4:55 PM · Oct 26, 2020·Twitter Web App
First of all, it must be stated that Markey' statement is so blisteringly ignorant that it should disqualify him from voting for dog catcher. This is dumb beyond belief. It's not only partisan, it's just outright stupid. The fact that Markey has a law degree from the Boston College of Law is proof, as if any is needed, that you really don't need to know anything about anything in order to graduate from law school.
You also apparently don't need to know the Constitution or care about the truth of it. Markey has been in Congress since 2013
It also shows that the oath of office that Senators take is regarded as a complete joke by some. The oath states:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
I know that it's hoping against hope, but there should be a point at which the violation of your oath of office has an implication, with that properly being that the Senate should refuse to continue to seat you. You're an oath breaker in your office. You should go.
Sasse isn't a lawyer, and is a PhD, so there's apparently some hope for other disciplines yet remaining.
Of interest, Markey, who joined the National Guard while in college, which he says wasn't to avoid service in Vietnam, and who made it to Specialist E4 after five years of National Guard service, was born in 1946. Sasse in 1972. Markey is a reliably left wing politician who just made it to the US Senate, after a long career in the House. Sasse is a very independent Republican who is on his second term.*
In other words, here we see the prefect example of what we wrote about yesterday. An aged, and now nearly irrelevant, East Coast Boomer politician is stating absolute idiocies about the Constitution, and being corrected by a post boomer respected, and more experienced at the Senatorial level, Mid American politician.
In the reaction to Barrett we're seeing a lot of this, although savvy politicians of all generations avoided it. Long term political survivor, for example, Dianne Feinstein just flat out didn't go there, and for good reason. She's taking a lot of whiny heat for her decision not to, but given her long history in politics, she's adept at reading the Washington tea leaves and avoided committing forced errors in the second Barrett confirmation she participated in.
Garrison Keillor was accused of bullying and humiliating women on his staff and no one should be shocked that he continues to be anti-women. . .
real. raw. bold. brave. Marian devotion to apocalyptic proportions. in the pursuit of corn juice.
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: The First Supreme Court. Who were they, and how ma...
Lex Anteinternet: Notes On Nominations. Replacing Justice Ginsburg
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Lex Anteinternet: Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 1933-2020
Ruth Bader Ginsberg. 1933-2020
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away today, September 18, 2020.
In a year of seemingly endless oddities, difficulties and drama, the death of Justice Ginsburg comes at such a time as to seem to fit into the story of the year at a Cosmic level. Now, added to all of the other drama of the final stages of the Presidential Campaign of 2020, we will have a Supreme Court Justice nomination, and confirmation.
Justice Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Flatbush. Born to Jewish parents, her father was a Ukrainian immigrant. She attended Cornell, meeting Martin Ginsburg, the man she would marry, at age 17. After marrying she worked a variety of jobs while her husband served as an Army officer, having been commissioned following his university graduation through a ROTC commission. In 1956 she entered Harvard Law School, transferring later to Columbia when her husband took a job in New York. She thereby became the first woman to publish in Columbia's and Harvard's law reviews.
Following law school she had difficulty finding employment due to her gender. The prejudice against female lawyers was strong at the time, and indeed would be for decades thereafter. She went on to be a civil rights litigator with the ACLU. Her work lead her to be appointed to the United States Appeals Court for the District of Columbia in 1980, as one of Jimmy Carter's appointments. She advanced to the Supreme Court in 1993 when nominated by Bill Clinton.
Ginsburg was a formidable intellect and will go down as one of the Court's titans. Her position on the court can be regarded as having been on the center left. In recent years she became the focus of the future direction of the Court as, after the resignation of Anthony Kennedy, she appeared to be the most likely justice to step down, due to age or health, or be removed by death. Now the latter has happened. It is well known that Ginsburg herself was carrying on in hopes of making it to the next Presidential term in anticipation of being replaced by a Democratic President.
Now she'll probably be replaced by a nominee named by President Trump. It's clear that the Senate is highly likely to take this up rapidly under Mitch McConnell, but less clear that Republican Senators who are facing difficulties holding on to the Senate will be willing to stake their political fortunes to an act which will be hugely unpopular with Democrats and which will become a focus of the remainder of President Trump's term. Indeed, to at least some extent, a rapid process on the part of Mitch McConnell, assuming a quick nomination by President Trump, will have a certain appearance of throwing Trump, and perhaps some Republican Senators, under the bus, as the act is likely to be so unpopular with Democrats. That would also be a concession on McConnell's part, a concession which has already been made as a practical matter, that in the 21st Century United States the Supreme Court is the most important branch of the government.
At any rate, Ginsburg, agree with her positions or not, was a legal giant. Only Anthony Scalia, her friend outside of the court and opposite on the court, rivaled her in that regard.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Doorway Into the Past: Liberty County Courthouse
Doorway Into the Past: Caldwell County Courthouse, Lockhart Texas
Doorway Into the Past: Kerr County Courthouse
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Fallon County Courthouse, Baker Montana
This is the Fallon County Courthouse, which also houses the county and city offices and the county library, in Fallon County Montana. The building is located in the county seat of Baker.
I was obviously there in the middle of winter, and on a cold day at that.
An American Legion dedicated flag pole is in front of the courthouse, dedicated to the veterans of all wars.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Blog Mirror. Lex Anteinternet: Wednesday, January 29, 1919. Inns At Court
Hors de combat.
Wednesday, January 29, 1919. Colonies in issue, Secret Treaties Exposed, Immigration to be halted, State Prohibition Bill Advances as 18th Amendment Certified, Mexican Rebels reported defeated again, and Yanks can Marry By Mail.
The Peace Treaty was struggling on what to do with the colonies of the defeated. Giving them nation status, unless they were European, seemed out of the question, so League of Nation mandates were being argued about instead.
The 18th Amendment was certified by Congress as ratified, but the State was still going to pass a prohibition bill anyhow, showing that the desire to act on the already acted upon purposelessly already existed. There was no reason to pass any Prohibition bill in Wyoming, but the Legislature was going to do it anyway.
And American soldiers could marry their sweethearts by mail, it was decided, exchanging vows by correspondence, apparently. The validity of that in certain faiths, it might be noted, would be questionable.
As, in most cases, would be the purpose. Separated by an ocean, the couples were not going to reunite until Johnny Came Marching Home anyhow. And if he was going to instead find the Belle de France in la belle France. . . well that was probably going to happen anyhow as well. About the only reason to do this would be to resolve questions of impending legitimacy, which perhaps would have been a concern in some instances.
And the economy was tanking while there were vast numbers of Europeans who were refugees, which no doubt put focus on immigration and which was accordingly being addressed in Congress.
Among the refugees were the Armenians. Their plight was well known but it had not been addressed.
Apparently, to my huge surprise, leaving for Florida in the winter was already a thing. I would not have guessed that at all, once again showing the application of Holscher's First Law of History.
Elsewhere, Mexican rebels were reported as defeated, once again.
New counties were a hot issue in the Legislature as well.
And a Laramie policeman was compelled to draw his pistol when in s scuffle with somebody who was thought to be speaking German.
Laramie, fwiw, had a German language church early on and, I think, at this time, so a Laramie resident who could speak German wouldn't be that odd. Let alone that its a university town where, presumably, some people were still learning the language.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Lex Anteinternet: As we pass 700,000 views, the State of the Blog(s)...
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Platte County Courthouse, Wheatland Wyoming
Courthouse decorated for Memorial Day, 2014.
Monday, September 24, 2018
A New Wind River Tribal Judicial Center?
Courthouses of the West: Wind River Indian Reservation Tribal Court: This is the Wind River Indian Reservation Tribal Court, which also houses various other law related facilities. The court is located in F...An interesting article in the Star Tribune reports that representatives of the Tribal judicial system appeared in front of a committee of the Wyoming legislature this past week to seek support, which they received, for a new judicial center. The Federal government will have to provide the funding, but state support can't hurt.
The jail is grossly overcrowded and apparently the new three judge panel for the Court is enforcing the criminal law much more rigorously than in the past. The deficiencies of the courthouse, which includes the jail and the headquarters for the police department, are showing themselves. About three times as many prisoners are housed there on a daily basis than it was built for.
I can attest personally that the courtroom is quite inadequate. I hope they receive the funding they're seeking, and soon.
Monday, September 17, 2018
Town of Mills, Wyoming Municipal Court.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Lex Anteinternet: Monday At The Bar: Forgetting the past so we can ...
Friday, August 11, 2017
Lawrence County Courthouse. Speerfish South Dakota.
Probably the most remarkable thing about this photograph of the Lawrence County Courthouse in Speerfish, South Dakota is that (other than it being poorly aligned) is that there are no motorcycles in the photograph. It took me four tries to achieve that.
Which is part of the hazards associated with taking a photograph in the Sturgis area during motorcycle rally week.
I don't know the vintage of this well preserved classic courthouse, but it's clearly an older one and very nice in appearance. The court houses South Dakota's Fourth Judicial District and serves as the county seat for Lawrence County as well.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
University of Wyoming College of Law Large Moot Court, Laramie Wyoming
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Lex Anteinternet: And the nominee is . .
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Harris County Texas Courthouses
These photographs depict, from a distance, the old and new Harris County Texas courthouses. The old one, a classically styled courthouse, was built in 1910. The new one much more recently, having been started in 2003.
The new courthouse is a seventeen story structure. Locals in the law seem quite proud of it, but I don't know what I think. It retains some classic elements but it's sort of big and overgrown.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Sublette County Courthouse, Pinedale Wyoming
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Lex Anteinternet: Rally for Public Lands, Casper Wyoming, November 5...
Rally for Public Lands, Casper Wyoming, November 5, 2016
Rally for Public Lands:
Join Us!
—WHEN—
Saturday, November 5th
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
—WHERE—
Izaak Walton League,
4205 Fort Caspar Road
—WHAT—
Live music, keynote speakers, food & drinks!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Jefferson County Courthouse, Port Arthur Texas.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse and United States Courthouse for the District of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah.
Built in 1931, the last year of the Hoover Administration, this classic courthouse is nestled in downtown Salt Lake City. The current name is much more recent, coming from a long serving Utah Senator who retired in 1977.
Just behind this classic revival style courthouse is a large modern office building which is the current United States Courthouse for the District of Utah, which has the local nickname of the "Borg Cube" due to its modern architecture, and in obvious reference to the characters from Star Trek. That also forms a fairly effective commentary on what the public thinks of modern style courthouses, so I don't need to add to that, and could hardly do so more effectively.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Lex Anteinternet: What Are You Reading?
Stop over and let us know what you're reading!What are you reading?
A new trailing thread, dedicated to what we're currently reading.
And. . . we hope. . . with participation from you.
What are you reading right now? Add it down in the commentary section
__________________________________________________________________________________
June 21, 2016
Give Me Eighty Men
I'm presently reading Give Me Eighty Men by Shannon Smith. It's a history of the Fetterman Fight, and a history of the history of the Fetterman Fight. I'll review it when I'm done, but I'll note that the favorable mention of the book by the authors of The Heart of All That Is caused me to pick it up, even though I'd been inclined to previously avoid it.
So far, I'm enjoying it, and its certainly raising a lot questions in my mind about the Fetterman battle, although I'm reserving my judgment on various things so far.
That thread: What Are You Reading?