Results tagged “sandradayo”

-- Did you know that the first woman to cycle around the world was a Jewish mother from Boston? Us neither.

Wow, weeks of intense speculations from both political parties and the most inane patter-praise from the President can really do something: Harriet Miers has withdrawn her Supreme Court nomination. Maybe she was upset that her makeunder was so poorly received. Maybe she didn't want to go through the hassle of explaining her multi-party colors. Maybe she didn't want to see Rachel Dratch carried around by Will Forte anymore. Maybe she realized she was a terrible candidate and that the President really isn't that smart. Maybe she wanted to steal the thunder of any indictment of a senior White House official whose name rhymes with "Marl Cove" in leak of Valerie Plame. Gothamist is just happy that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is on the court for a little while longer - quick, speed up hearing some cases.

The Washington Post had an article about Miers earlier this summer: "low-key but high-precision style." And in other Supreme Court news, Justice Antonin Scalia will lead next Monday's Columbus Day Parade here in NYC; Scalia was born in Queens.

William Hubbs Rehnquist, the 16th chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, died last night of thyroid cancer. He was 80. While his death does not come as a huge surprise, he has been visibly ailing for months now, that he died days before confirmation hearings begin for John Roberts does turn things around a bit. Rehnquist, who was appointed to the court in 1971 by Richard Nixon, was made Chief Justice in 1986. He oversaw some major decisions in his court, ranging from flag burning (Texas v. Johnson) to election recounts (Bush v. Gore). The Washington Post has a good breakdown of his key decisions. In fact, the obits are already pouring in, so rather than regurgitate them, we'll just point you in their direction.

President Bush is an awesome friend. If you're Karl Rove. See, he nominated John Roberts (not the CBS guy...just a judge who looks suspciously like Pat Sajak) to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, and Gothamist can't help but think the nomination came to stifle the news that Karl Rove - and an aide to Vice President Cheney - could very well have been the smoking gun in naming an undercover CIA operative. He managed to get on the cover of Time and Newsweek, only to make us realize he looks a lot like Brian Posehn. Will having a conservative Supreme Court nominee be enough to knock the leak story off A1 for long? Well, at least there's the Daily Show.

that someday Law & Order will filter to the highest levels of government. We just didn't figure that it would be in this way: Fred Thompson, who plays District Attorney Arthur Branch, has agreed to be an adviser to President Bush for the Supreme Court justice selection process. Apparently, one term in the Senate and a role on America's longest running cop-and-lawyer show can launch you into guiding one of the most important decisions for our country! Now Gothamist wonders if Thompson can do anything about Tom Delay's complaining about L&O mentioning him in an episode...or if writers will be trying to say anything about the current administration!

The Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that the government can seize private property and turn it over to developers, under the auspices of eminent domain. The Daily News points out that this probably warms of the hearts of developers, taking, for instance, projects like Bruce Ratner's Brooklyn Nets arena or Columbia University's development of 18 acres in Harlem...or any projects that have a "public purpose" element. In the end, it's up to the state government to determine whether or not the property should be seized, so many local lawmakers are pleading with the State Legislature to review eminent domain.

However, the court did strike down some quota systems based on points. The Washington Post says that court, for once, looks like America with this decision.