Bush is our own little version of Bad King John. He needs to be taken down to Runnymede and made to sign a 21st century equivalent of the Magna Carta. Or we could just impeach him, I guess.

Yet another shining example of the supreme arrogance of George Bush and his administration. Either he thought that the 4th Circuit judges were a bunch of complete idiots (unlikely) or he assumed that the 4th Circuit would look the other way while the government once again played fast and loose with Jose Padilla. How refreshing to see a conservative court not only rebuff Bush's thinly-veiled attempt to avoid another slap from the Supreme Court, but also make it clear that Bush's credibility in future cases is going to suffer as a result of these machinations. Undoubtedly Judge Luttig won't be sitting on the Supreme Court any time soon, if ever, which is probably a good thing, but I find myself admiring the man since he apparently has a conscience and the courage of his convictions. (Of course I suppose it's possible that he's just pissed off because Alito got nominated instead of him or, worse yet, maybe he's one of those gol' darned activist judges that keep getting in King George's way.)

This reminds me of one of the best movies ever made about journalism, "Absence of Malice". In the climactic scene, Wilford Brimley, the no-nonsense Asst. Attorney General calls the over-zealous (dare we say 'rogue') District Attorney on his questionable tactics, and tells him to 'Make your case', right here, right now.

Rent the DVD for a great story, and (hopefully) a hint of how this current obscenity should come out in real life.

Is it too late to persuade the moderate Republicans to have Alito's name withdrawn and replace him with Luttig instead?