The Commentariat -- March 28, 2013

** James Downie of the Washington Post: "The White House’s apathy [toward too-big-to-fail banks] is particularly bizarre when ending too big to fail is not just good policy but good politics as well." Read the whole post.

Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "President Obama wants to see the Supreme Court rule on the merits of the same-sex marriage arguments they heard this week, he said Wednesday, even though his solicitor general suggested that the court should not be considering one of the cases under review." ...

... ** Separate and Unequal. Ron Brownstein of the National Journal on why the Supremes should rule on the merits: "In the absence of national rules from Congress or the Supreme Court, the country often has let 'the states experiment' with inimical courses for a very long time on questions at least as weighty. The most obvious is slavery, which existed in the South until the Civil War ended it almost nine decades after Vermont first banned the practice in its colonial constitution. After the war, Tennessee in 1882 ignited a burst of laws across the South mandating racial segregation. Even after the Supreme Court upheld these 'separate but equal' laws in its 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, few jurisdictions outside of the South followed.... The justices are waiting for a cavalry that won't arrive if they are hoping that the states will establish a common set of rules for same-sex marriage before the Court itself must act." ...

... ** Emily Bazelon of Slate: Paul Clement, who was defending DOMA for House Republicans had his "diciest moment [during yesterday's Supreme Court hearing] ... when Justice Elena Kagan ... said that 'for the most part and historically, the only uniformity that the federal government has pursued' is uniform recognition of marriages recognized by the states. Federal law has followed state law. 'This statute does something that's really never been done before,' Kagan continued, and the question is whether 'that sends up a pretty red flag.' Then she hoisted that flag.... 'I'm going to quote from the House report here: "Congress decided to reflect and honor collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality."' 'Does the House report say that?' Clement asked, before catching himself: 'Of course the House report says that. And if that's enough to invalidate the statute, then you should invalidate the statute.' Maybe that's the whole case right there." ...

... Richard Socarides of the New Yorker: "... the question of heightened scrutiny is the most important issue in [the DOMA] case. If the Court articulates a new and more forward-leaning standard of review in sexual-orientation-discrimination cases, as advocates hope, it would be truly transformative -- so much so that even if the Court decided not to rule in yesterday's Proposition 8 case, anti-gay-marriage laws would soon be doomed in any future litigation." ...

... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "However the justices rule, what was perhaps most notable in the two days of oral arguments concerning these marriage equality cases is that the lawyers for those opposing gay rights believe their side will ultimately lose this battle -- if not in the courts, than in the political realm." ...

Kate M. sends along this image:

... AND that reminds me: the Court's conservatives need a history lesson. Tuesday in Court Justice Alito said, "Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years." Actually, no, as The Week staff illuminated last year: "the institution has been in a process of constant evolution." Alito's definition of "always" (as in "that's the way we've always done it ["it" being whatever], so it's morally wrong to change it") is "as long as I can remember." Alito ascribes to the egocentric "history begins with me" school of thought.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "During Wednesday's Supreme Court arguments on same-sex marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts asserted that President Barack Obama's decision to keep carrying out the Defense of Marriage Act after concluding that it was unconstitutional indicated that he lacked "the courage of his convictions.' But Chief Justice John Roberts was involved in an arguably similar situation back in 1990, when the George H.W. Bush administration refused to defend a legislative rider on affirmative action even as the underlying federal agency continued to abide by it."

Ezra Klein: "Sorry, Justice Scalia, there's no evidence that gay parents aren't great parents.... According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, 400,00 children are living in the United States without permanent families.... We should be begging gay couples to adopt children. We should see this as a great boon that gay marriage could bring to kids who need nothing more than two loving parents."

Profile in Courage. Greg Sargent: "As best as I can determine, there is only one Democrat in the Senate from a red or swing state right now who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act back in 1996: Sherrod Brown of Ohio." ...

... Profile in Weasly, Smarmy, Lying Cowardice: Bob Shrum in the Daily Beast: "I wrote in No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner about Bill Clinton's 2004 advice to John Kerry that he should consider supporting a ban on same sex marriage. I'm obviously not the only source: Newsweek independently reported the story eight years ago. My book came out six years ago and no one denied the accounts then or since then -- until now. A Clinton spokesman told The New York Times that the anecdote was completely false. But the story is true and I stand by it."

The oft-married, childless Rush Limbaugh says gay marriage is inevitable because of the influence of the "gay mafia ... has inflicted the fear of political death" on opponents. Guess he's giving up on the sanctity of serial "traditional" marriage.

Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: abortion is likely headed back to the Supreme Court as states purposely pass laws that are clearly unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. "Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood..., said she thinks the Supreme Court will not take away women's right to choose. I hope she's right."

"Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Shame of Three-Strikes Laws." Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "Despite the passage in late 2012 of a new state ballot initiative that prevents California from ever again giving out life sentences to anyone whose 'third strike' is not a serious crime, thousands of people -- the overwhelming majority of them poor and nonwhite -- remain imprisoned for a variety of offenses so absurd that any list of the unluckiest offenders reads like a macabre joke, a surrealistic comedy routine."

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times on CIA personnel moves described in yesterday's Washington Post: "A C.I.A. officer directly involved in the 2005 decision to destroy videotapes depicting the brutal interrogation of two detainees who were members of Al Qaeda has ascended to the top position within the agency's clandestine service.... The decision about whether to keep the officer in the job presents a dilemma for John O. Brennan, the new C.I.A. director, who said during his confirmation hearing last month that he was opposed to interrogation methods used by the spy agency in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Jesus, what do you have to do to lose a job over this? Show up wearing a necklace of disembodied fingernails?"

Brad Plumer of the Washington Post: "a big, newly revised paper by the University of Chicago's Marianne Bertrand and Adair Morse finds that ... as the wealthy have gotten wealthier..., that's created an economic arms race in which the middle class has been spending beyond their means in order to keep up. The authors call this 'trickle-down consumption.' The result? Americans are saving less, bankruptcies are becoming more common, and politicians are pushing for policies to make it easier to take on debt.... Cornell economist Robert H. Frank has been making this case for years."

David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Both parties, it turns out, have made wide-ranging efforts to survey the public about smart ways to cut the budget. The public responded -- and then the politicians let most of the good ideas get away."

Senators McCain, Schumer, Flake & Bennet. If you get an outfit, you can be a Senator, too. I know the Senate is sometimes billed as "the world's most exclusive club," but I did not know the club had uniforms.... Cristina Silva of the AP: "A bipartisan group of senators crafting a sweeping immigration bill vowed Wednesday that they would be ready to unveil it when Congress reconvenes in less than two weeks after getting a firsthand look at a crucial component of their legislation: security along the U.S.-Mexico border. The four senators -- Republicans John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York and Michael Bennet of Colorado -- are members of the so-called Gang of Eight, which is close to finalizing a bill aimed at securing the border and putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship."

Gail Collins recalls a Senate Republican caucus full of "environmental worrywarts." Enter, right, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, etc.

"Evan Bayh in Drag." Charles Pierce: "Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota is rapidly moving to the top of the leader board for this year's Al From Trophy, which the blog hands out annually to its least favorite putative Democrat. (The scramble for the cup has become frenzied since the retirement of perennial contenders Evan Bayh and Joe Lieberman, who were the Frazier and Ali of disreputable political sellouts.) Today, she pretty much told Michael Bloomberg to keep those (black) criminals in New York City in line before he spends all his (newyorkjew) money up in Jesusland to tell the people there what's what about their shootin' 'arns."

Chris Frates of the National Journal: "Republicans will continue to, as GOP Sen. John Barrasso put it, 'try to tear (Obamacare) apart.' And the GOP suspects it might get some help from moderate Democrats less concerned about protecting Obama's legacy than winning reelection. And much of that job falls to [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell, a brilliant defensive coordinator who will have to play flawless offense if he hopes to take control of the Senate next year."

Senate Races

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Actress Ashley Judd has decided not to pursue a bid for the Kentucky Senate race, according to two sources familiar with her decision."

Martin Finucane of the Boston Globe: candidates to replace John Kerry of Massachusetts debate. Blah blah.

Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "A Wisconsin man could face years in federal prison if he is convicted of helping hacker collective Anonymous< take down Koch Industries' website during protests in the state's capital in 2011, according to an indictment revealed this week.... Officials said Eric J. Rosol, 37, of Black Creek, Wis., participated in an Anonymous-organized shutdown of Koch websites www.kochind.com and www.quiltednorthern.com on Feb. 27 and 28 in 2011."

Right Wing World

Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: "The Republican Party has begun to move to the left on social and cultural issues, as well as on immigration. Despite the warnings of mass defections of white evangelical and born-again Christians, these shifts will not be as costly as some people ... claim. The fact is that on pretty much every noncultural issue -- government spending, taxes, the regulatory state and national defense -- the Christian right holds orthodox Republican views virtually identical to those of mainstream Republicans. Its members are unlikely to bolt the party."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bob Teague, who joined WNBC-TV in New York in 1963 as one of the city's first black television journalists and went on to work as a reporter, anchorman and producer for more than three decades, died on Thursday in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 84."

New York Times: Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, "the most widely followed barometer of the United States stock market, rose to a new high on Thursday, exceeding its 2007 peak, while most of the rest of the world could only look on in envy."

New York Times: Newtown shooter "Adam Lanza lived amid a stockpile of disparate weaponry and macabre keepsakes: 2 rifles, more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, 11 knives, a starter pistol, a bayonet, 3 samurai swords. He saved photographs of what appeared to be a corpse smeared in blood and covered in plastic. Strewn about was a newspaper clipping that chronicled a vicious shooting at Northern Illinois University."

AP: "The U.S military says two nuclear-capable B-2 bombers have completed a training mission in South Korea amid threats from North Korea that include nuclear strikes< on Washington and Seoul. The statement Thursday by U.S. Forces Korea is an unusual confirmation."

New York Times: "Former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa was readmitted to the hospital overnight because of a recurring lung infection, President Jacob Zuma said in a statement on Thursday, appealing to people around the world to pray for him."

Reuters: "Cypriots queued calmly at banks as they reopened on Thursday under tight controls imposed on transactions to prevent a run on deposits after the government was forced to accept a stringent EU rescue package to avert bankruptcy."

Guardian: "A Brazilian doctor who has been charged with the murder of seven patients is being investigated in almost 300 other cases, according to health authorities investigating what could prove one of the world's worst serial killings. Virginia Soares de Souza is accused of cutting the oxygen to people on life-support systems and administering lethal doses of muscle-relaxing drugs in the Evangelica Hospital of Curitiba. Soares, a director of the hospital, was arrested in February along with three doctors and a nurse, who are suspected of conspiracy. Three other hospital staff have subsequently been charged in the case."

Reuters: "Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who died in a mansion near London in unexplained circumstances last weekend, was found lying on the floor of the bathroom with a 'ligature around his neck', an inquest into his death heard on Thursday."

AP: "Oscar Pistorius can leave South Africa to compete in international track meets, a judge ruled on Thursday as he upheld the Olympic athlete's appeal against some of his bail restrictions."

The Commentariat -- March 27, 2013

Obama 2.0. Julie Pace of the AP: "A White House official says President Barack Obama will name Julia Pierson as the first female director of the Secret Service." ...

... Update: David Nakamura & Scott Wilson of the Washington Post have the full story. "The appointment does not require Senate confirmation."

Greg Miller & Julie Tate of the Washington Post: CIA Director John Brennan "To help navigate the sensitive decision [of naming] the [CIA's] clandestine service chief, [CIA Director John] Brennan has taken the unusual step of assembling a group of three former CIA officials to evaluate the candidates. Brennan announced the move in a previously undisclosed notice sent to CIA employees last week, officials said. 'The director of the clandestine service has never been picked that way,' said a former senior U.S. intelligence official. The move has led to speculation that Brennan is seeking political cover...."

Adam Liptak & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "A majority of the justices on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, as the Supreme Court took up the volatile issue of same-sex marriage for a second day. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely considered the swing vote on the divided court, joined the four liberals in posing skeptical questions to a lawyer defending the law.... The question is whether or not the federal government under a federalism system has the authority to 'regulate marriage,' Justice Kennedy said during oral arguments...." ...

... The Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes & Sandhya Somashekhar, is here. The Los Angeles Times story, by David Lauter & David Savage, is here. ...

... The transcript of today's oral arguments is here (pdf).

... Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog: "If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, that law may be gone.... That would happen, it appeared, primarily because Justice Anthony M. Kennedy seemed persuaded that the federal law intruded too deeply into the power of the states to regulate marriage, and that the federal definition cannot prevail. The only barrier to such a ruling, it appeared, was the chance -- an outside one, though -- that the Court majority might conclude that there is no live case before it...." ...

... DOMA is in trouble. -- Jeff Toobin (of course, that's what he said about ObamaCare). Video via Raw Story:

... The New York Times' "The Lede" has live-ish updates of the proceedings in the DOMA case. Here are updates from the Washington Post.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: " As the top civil rights lawyer for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD, based in Boston, [Mary] Bonauto has spent more than a decade plotting a careful strategy to advance gay marriage rights. She prompted Vermont to create civil unions in 2000, won the 2003 case that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and last year persuaded a federal appeals court that the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to gay couples, is unconstitutional. Yet in a quirk of fate..., the justices are considering a Defense of Marriage Act case on Wednesday, but it is not Ms. Bonauto's, which she argued when Justice Elena Kagan was President Obama's solicitor general. Instead the court took up a similar case..., presumably so Justice Kagan would not have to recuse herself."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "While Tuesday's case, about California's ban on same-sex marriage, has the potential to establish a constitutional right for gay and lesbian couples to marry, Wednesday's case is comparatively modest: it asks whether married same-sex couples are entitled to federal benefits." ...

... The Washington Post's story, by Robert Barnes, is here.

You want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution, which is newer than cell phones or the Internet? I mean we -- we are not -- we do not have the ability to see the future. [Paraphrase: my sinecure-for-life job is just too hard.] -- Whining Alito

The principal argument in 1967 with respect to Loving and that the Commonwealth of Virginia advanced was: Well, the social science is still uncertain about how biracial children will fare in this world, and so you ought to apply rational basis scrutiny and wait. And I think the Court recognized that there is a cost to waiting and that that has got to be part of the equal protection calculus. [Paraphrase: Do your damned job.] -- Solicitor General Donald Virrelli

Remember the fine print in the Declaration of Independence? We have an inalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just so long as the specific type of happiness is older than mobile telephones.... Rights are not supposed to be open to popularity contests. -- Steve Benen

While Justice Alito can’t see into the future, most Americans can. If this court doesn’t reject bigotry, history will reject this court. -- Maureen Dowd

Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "... the best argument the chief defender of California's ban on same-sex marriage could muster was that his side would ultimately lose." Read the whole post. ...

... While reading the Supremes' tea leaves is not a great idea (ask Jeff Toobin about that) Ian Millhiser of Think Progress seems to say it all in his headline: "The justices are not ready to bring marriage equality to Alabama, and they want Prop 8 to go away." Read his whole post. ...

The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals. That's where the compelling argument is. 'We're Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.' That's a compelling argument, and to deny that, you have got to have a very strong argument on the other side. The argument on the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible. -- Cultural Arbiter Bill O'Reilly

When you've lost Bill O'Reilly, you've lost the war. -- Constant Weader

... The Washington Post published a terrific explanatory piece by Dylan Matthews late Tuesday morning on the issues before the Court. If you didn't know what the justices & lawyers were talking about when they discussed rational-basis review, intermediate scrutiny & strict scrutiny, read Matthews. The basis for determining which standard to apply still seems rather arbitrary to me. ...

... Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog, concentrating on the DOMA case to be heard today, also has an excellent explanation of the case & of "heightened scrutiny." BTW, Congress's argument against heightened scrutiny is that "gays and lesbians are one of the most influential, best-connected, and best-organized groups in modern politics, and have attained more legislative victories, political power, and popular favor in less time than virtually any other group in American history.'" CW: got that? Discrimination against a group of otherwise successful people isn't as bad as discrimination against those who are less "connected."

Kevil Cirilli of Politico: "Sen. Kay Hagan [ConservaD-N.C.] backed same-sex marriage Wednesday...."

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "... national trends suggest that the fight over gay marriage is coming to an end -- no matter what the Supreme Court decides." With more charts!

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the ability of the police to use drug-sniffing dogs outside homes. The case concerned Franky, a chocolate Labrador retriever who detected the smell of marijuana outside a Florida house used by Joelis Jardines. Based on Franky's signal, the police obtained a warrant to search the house, and they found a marijuana-growing operation inside.... The 5-to-4 decision in the case, Florida v. Jardines, No. 11-564, featured an unusual alignment of justices. Justice Antonin Scalia, a member of the court's conservative wing, wrote the majority decision. He was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, a frequent ally, along with three of the court's more liberal members, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan."

Appreciations of New York Times justice reporter & columnist Anthony Lewis, who died Monday, from Rick Hertzberg of the New Yorker & Emily Bazelon of Slate. NPR republishes an interview of Lewis, conducted in 2002 by Neal Conan, slightly after he retired from the Times.

Justin Sink of The Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday criticized three Senate Republicans, [Rand Paul, Ted Cruz & Mike Lee] who have threatened to filibuster Senate gun control legislation. Carney said a filibuster ... would send the wrong message to the families of gun violence victims. 'I don't think you need to tell the families of those who have lost their children to gun violence that bills like this may be filibustered...,' Carney said." ...

... Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "ThinkProgress examined data from the home states of six Democratic senators currently on the fence [about universal background checks]: Arkansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Louisiana, Alaska, and North Dakota. According to the most recent data available, these six states had: 1) 1,462 gun murders in 2010; 2) 351 gun death since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre at the end of last year; and 3) widespread support for universal background checks (following the national trend). Meanwhile, 152 gun shows are scheduled to take place in these states this year, providing criminals who can't pass background checks in stores with ample opportunity to stock up on guns." ...

... Cruz News

Caught on Tape. Jonathan Allen of Politico: "Senate Democrats are accusing Sen. Ted Cruz -- one of the conservatives threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation -- of flip-flopping on the issue. Majority Leader Harry Reid's office posted a video [below] of Cruz raising the possibility of strengthening a federal database of individuals who should not be allowed to purchase guns.... The video ... includes a reference to the filibuster threat and ends with this tag line: 'We agree. Let's vote on that.'" Cruz claims Democrats twisted his words. CW: apparently in Cruzspeak, "twisted" means "replayed at an inconvenient moment."

... Jamelle Bouie of the American Prospect: "What's key about Sandy Hook isn't that it yields new legislation, it's that it inspires new activism around gun control, and provides energy for the long effort to build a political coalition unafraid of the cultural politics that surround guns. Sandy Hook -- helped along by a new Democratic majority of urbanites and nonwhites -- has changed the politics of gun control. It will just take awhile for us to see the effects."

Ian Urbina of the New York Times: "Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that she had asked federal immigration officials to provide her with more information about immigrants being held in solitary confinement at federal facilities.... Her request came in response to an article in The New York Times on Sunday about new federal data indicating that on any given day roughly 300 immigrants are held in isolation, many of them for 23 hours a day. The data indicated that in more than half of the cases where this form of detention was used, detainees were isolated for 15 days or more, the point at which psychiatric experts say they are at risk of severe mental harm."

Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Ben Protess of the New York Times: "All told, at least eight federal agencies are investigating [JPMorgan Chase Bank], including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. in New York are also examining potential wrongdoing at JPMorgan."

Fracking Faults. John Tagliabue of the New York Times: earthquakes in the Netherlands "were caused by the extraction of natural gas from the soil deep below. The gas was discovered in the 1950s, and extraction began in the 1960s, but only in recent years have the quakes become more frequent, about 18 in the first six weeks of this year, compared with as few as 20 each year before 2011. Chiel Seinen, a spokesman for the gas consortium known as NAM, said the extraction had created at least 1,800 faults in the region's subsoil. 'These faults are seen as a mechanism to induce earthquakes,' he said. The findings in the Netherlands parallel the anxiety about hydraulic fracturing technology in the United States, where several states have halted drilling temporarily.... This month, the New York State Assembly voted to block ... fracking...."

John Rogers & Shaya Mohajerap of the AP: "In his first public speech since resigning as head of the CIA, David Petraeus apologized for the extramarital affair that 'caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters.' The hero of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars struck a somber, apologetic tone as he spoke to about 600 people, including his wife and many uniformed and decorated veterans, at the University of Southern California's annual ROTC dinner on Tuesday." CW: I can't figure out why a person has to apologize to strangers about private, lawful behavior. An elected official may have disappointed the people who voted for him because he presented himself as a different sort of person, but Petraeus was a hired gun, not an elected official. It seems to me his apology is in itself a form of self-aggrandizement. What do you think?

Senate Race

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: Sen. Tim "Johnson's [D-S.D.] decision [to retire in 2014], coming on the heels of a spate of retirement announcements from Democrats, opens up a potential new opportunity for Republicans in the state that President Obama lost by a large margin last year. Further, the retirement of Mr. Johnson, a moderate who is chairman of the powerful banking committee, will open up that slot, should Democrats maintain a majority. His replacement could be critical as Congress continues to deal with regulatory issues." ...

... Yep, bankers are all skeert my man Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) will become chair of the banking committee: Seung Min Kim & Kate Davidson of Politico: "... the Ohio senator who has made bashing big banks his trademark has a complicated, yet very plausible, pathway to the committee gavel — which would put him in a powerful position to move and promote his legislative priorities." CW: My guess: Wall Street's BFF Chuck Schumer will reserve the prize for himself -- and a grateful Street will shower him with Big Chuck Bucks.

Local News

North Dakota -- the Anti-Woman State. Alex Johnson & Daniel Arkin of NBC News: "North Dakota's [Republican] governor signed the nation's strictest anti-abortion measures into law Tuesday, including one statute that would ban most abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy." CW: that would be before many women even know they're pregnant.

Virginia Is Not for Voters. David Edwards of Raw Story: "The Republican governor of Virginia on Tuesday signed a law requiring that voters present photo identification in order to vote. Gov. Bob McDonnell said that HB 1337 was an effort to make elections 'less subject to fraud,' [CW: fraud which does not exist, but so what?] but voting rights advocates claimed that the law would suppress the rights of elderly and minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic and are less likely to have photo identification. In an executive order, McDonnell also directed the Board of Elections to educate the public before the law becomes effective in 2014." CW: kinda makes you wonder how our democracy survived pre-camera days. If only the portrait miniaturists of yore had had a friend like Bob.

Climate Change Comes to the Bond Market. Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has started to caution investors that climate change poses a long-term risk to the state's finances.... A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo said he believed New York was the first state to caution investors about climate change. The caution, which cites Hurricane Sandy and Tropical Storms Irene and Lee, is included alongside warnings about other risks like potential cuts in federal spending, unresolved labor negotiations and litigation against the state."

The Gohmert Daily News

Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: Rep. Louis Gohmert (RCrazy-Texas) "got into a late-night verbal altercation with U.S. Park Police officers earlier this month, pulling rank in an attempt to get out of a parking ticket near the Lincoln Memorial. Shortly after 11 p.m. on March 13, officers wrote Rep. Louie Gohmert a citation for parking his black Ford SUV in a spot reserved for National Park Service vehicles.... Gohmert ... told the Park Police that his congressional parking placard allows him to park in that spot, and he's on the committee that oversees the agency. Gohmert took the ticket off his windshield and placed it on a police car along with his business card with a written message: 'Oversight of Park Service is my job! Natural Resources Thus the Congressional Plate in window.' He was 'rude and irate,' one officer reported. Another wrote that Gohmert was 'ranting.'"

See Comment by Akhilleus which begins, "In the Schadenfreude...." Akhilleus goes on to say, "Show of hands, kids. Who really believes Mittens stands in line at the Stop n Shop or rides a subway? Who believes he has EVER stood in line for anything?" ...

... CW: My hand is up. (What the photo doesn't show is that a few moments later, Romney grabbed the cane of the elderly lady in line in front of him & beat her to the ground with it. Stepping lightly around her battered body, he ordered a vanilla malt. Asked about the incident later, Romney brushed it aside as "a good lesson for irresponsible 47-percenters who consider themselves victims." A Romney spokesperson noted that family members of the woman confirmed that she received both Social Security and Medicare -- a double-dipper.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "James M. Nabrit III, a civil rights lawyer who fought school segregation before the Supreme Court and helped ensure that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., was allowed to go forward, died on Friday in Bethesda, Md. He was 80."

New York Times: "Defense lawyers for James E. Holmes, who is charged with killing 12 people and wounding dozens more at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater last summer, signaled in court filings on Wednesday that they were willing to have Mr. Holmes plead guilty if he was spared the death penalty."

AP: "Cyprus will impose limits on money transfers and dispatch extra security guards to prepare for Thursday's reopening of the banks, which have been shut for almost two weeks to avoid a run during the country's financial drama."

AP: "Raising tensions with South Korea yet again, North Korea cut its last military hotline with Seoul on Wednesday, a link that has been essential in operating the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation: an industrial complex in the North that employs hundreds of workers from the South."

The Commentariat -- March 26, 2013

**SCOTUSblog is tweeting updates of oral arguments. ...

... The New York Times' "The Lede" has live commentary. ...

... Adam Liptak & Scott Shane of the New York Times: "As the Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the very meaning of marriage, several justices seemed to have developed a case of buyer's remorse about the case before them. Some wondered aloud if the court had moved too fast to address whether gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry." ...

... The Washington Post story, by Robert Barnes & Carol Morello, is here. ...

... Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog analyzes the Justices' remarks, with a concentration of Kennedy, who seems to want to skip the whole thing. "Ooh, my sinecure for life is too hard."

... The oral arguments in the Prop 8 case:

... Here's the Court's unofficial transcript of the arguments in the Prop 8 case (pdf). ...

... Attorneys David Boies & Ted Olson, attorneys opposing Prop 8, comment after the oral hearing:

... Sarah Erickson-Muschko of SCOTUSblog has an excellent series of links to news and opinion pieces on the two gay rights cases the Supreme Court will hear today. I won't try to duplicate her effort.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Paul Ryan's House budget:

**Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, in the Washington Post: "Beneath all the partisan bickering, bipartisan majorities are solid for a trade policy run by and for multinationals, a health-care system serving insurance and drug companies, an energy policy for Big Oil and King Coal, and finance favoring banks that are too big to fail. Economist James Galbraith calls this the 'predator state,' one in which large corporate interests rig the rules to protect their subsidies, tax dodges and monopolies. This isn't the free market; it's a rigged market.... Bloomberg News estimated that the subsidy they are provided by being too big to fail adds up to an estimated $83 billion a year."

Natasha Lennard of Salon: "In recent months, especially in light of Aaron Swartz's suicide and Andrew 'Weev' Aurnheimer's prison sentencing, calls for reform to or disposal of the Computer Fraud and Abuses Act (CFAA) have amplified to a fever pitch.... Following Swartz's death, Rep. Zoe Lofgren proposed legislation, 'Aaron's law,' which aims to stop the government bringing disproportionate charges in cases like Swartz's. The draft cybersecurity bill circulating on Capitol Hill since last weekend, unlike Lofgren's, appears to expand the CFAA, not limit it.... TechDirt highlights one of the most perturbing suggested amendments includes changing the law such that 'conspiring' to commit what might be crimes under the CFAA would amount to actually committing the actual acts."

Bettina Boxall of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama on Monday established five new national monuments, including one in Washington's San Juan Islands and one in northern New Mexico." ...

... Which of course horrified Republicans.

President Obama spoke about immigration reform at a naturalization ceremony yesterday:

Jillian Rayfield of Salon: "Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., announced on his Facebook page that after some 'evolving,' he now officially supports gay marriage." ...

... Zack Harold of the Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) announced yesterday that he no longer supported DOMA.

We taxpayers paid for this so-called parody, along with another "spoof" of "Gilligan's Island." Thanks a lot, IRS. Good call. CBS obtained the video through a Freedom of Information Act request "after the IRS earlier refused to turn over a copy to the congressional committee that oversees tax issues: House Ways and Means":

... Josh Lederman of the AP: "... according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service...' the federal government spent ... nearly $3.7 million ... last year on the four living ex-presidents and one presidential widow. Topping the list in 2012 was George W. Bush, who got just over $1.3 million last year.... The $3.7 million taxpayers shelled out in 2012 is about $200,000 less than in 2011, and the sum in 2010 was even higher... With ex-presidents able to command eye-popping sums for books, speaking engagements and the like..., the report raises questions about whether the U.S. should provide such generous subsidies at a time when spending cuts and the deficit are forcing lawmakers and federal agencies to seek ways to cut back."

Justin Sink of The Hill: "Connecticut's U.S. senators on Tuesday admonished the National Rifle Association for robocalls to residents of Newtown, Conn.... 'With these robocalls, the NRA has stooped to a new low in the debate over how to best protect our kids and our communities,' Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre. 'We call on you to immediately stop calling the families and friends of the victims in Newtown.' The robocalls ... urge Newtown residents to lobby their state representatives against an effort to pass stricter gun controls in the state." ...

... Jonathan Allen of Politico: "Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office on Tuesday." CW: C'mon, you knew Aqua Buddha Man could not sound reasonable for longer than 24 hours. Time's up.

John Avlon of the Daily Beast/Newsweek: "... federal investigators are now interviewing former [Michele] Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee." CW: I'm sure any testimony Madame 8 Pinocchios gives will be totally truthful. ...

... Austerity, Yes, But Not in My District. Greg Sargent: "... there's nothing like a few spending cuts in your own district to concentrate the mind. [Michele] Bachmann is, understandably, upset to hear that the Federal Aviation Administration — as part of its move to close air traffic control towers across the country due to sequestration's spending cuts -- will be closing two towers in Bachmann's district. And she’s suddenly making sense, putting out a statement decrying the sequester cuts and calling for a more 'responsible' approach."

Andrew Cohen of the Atlantic remembers legal writer Anthony Lewis, who died Monday.

Senate Race

Margaret Chadbourn of Reuters: "Senator Tim Johnson, the Democratic chairman of the powerful banking committee, does not plan to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2014.... Johnson, 66, a three-term senator from South Dakota, has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday in his home state to discuss what his aides described as 'his future plans.' His retirement would leave a vacant seat in a conservative-leaning state that could be difficult for Democrats to defend as they try to protect their majority in the Senate." CW: I'll say.

Local News

Alex Pareene of Salon: "Looks like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is going to try to be president now.... Walker is 'collaborating on a book with Marc Thiessen....' It is an I would like to be president sort of book.... Thiessen is a very poor Washington Post opinion columnist who wrote a book in which he strung together a series of distortions in support of the thesis that torture is great." CW: read the whole post. Walker continues to work hard to beat my own governor Rick Scott to the title of America's Worst Governor.

It Could Happen to You. An innocent man is released from prison after 23 years; a school teacher and her principal have their careers restored after 10 years -- all falsely accused/convicted under investigations conducted by retired NYPD Det. Louis Scarella. Michael Powell of the New York Times reports.

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: in a speech to be delivered at the University of Southern California tonight, David Petraeus will say he is "keenly aware" he's a first-class jerk. Meanwhile, he's been getting lots of job offers. Keen.

Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic remembers Anthony Lewis, who died Monday.

Right Wing World *

Boehner, Not as Crazy as His Caucus. Boehner flip-flops again, this time on ObamaCare, which a few weeks ago was "the law of land" but now is a law the House will "continue working to scrap." Steve Benen: "The problem isn't necessarily that the House Speaker is a right-wing ideologue, but rather, that he's weak in the face of pressure from right-wing ideologues." ...

... CW: as I've said before in some form or another -- if Boehner were a patriot, he would seek out about 30 of his lease crazy members, and work with Pelosi to get some reasonable legislation through the House. If he can tell Harry Reid to go fuck himself, he can tell a bunch of disloyal Tea Party crazies the same.

Andrew Stiles of the National Review: Pushing back against criticism of his continued support for gay-lovin' Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), GOP chair Reince "Priebus cited former governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas as an example of someone who could be 'a model for a lot of people in our party' in terms of discussing issues like marriage and abortion. 'I always tell people: Listen to Governor Mike Huckabee,' he said." ...

... Steve Benen: "OK, let's ... 'listen to' Mike Huckabee on culture-war issues. We might hear, for example, the former Arkansas governor suggest a national quarantine for those who are HIV positive. Huckabee has also equated homosexuality with 'pedophilia, sadomasochism, and necrophilia,' and compared gay marriage to drug addiction. Huckabee has also compared legal abortion to slavery and the Nazi holocaust."

You Can't Make Up This Stuff. Carol Kuruvilla of the New York Daily News: "Some members of the tea party are boycotting Fox News for being too liberal. The activists, who call themselves the Tea Party Fire Ants, say that Fox News has gone soft on some issues, like immigration and the attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. They organized a boycott that lasted from March 21 to March 24, demanding that the station ... turn even harder right.... Its organizers are more than willing to switch over to the One America, a new conservative network that will launch in July." Via Steve Benen.

* Brought to you with a lotta help from Steve Benen.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The leader of the rebel group that seized power in the Central African Republic, Michel Djotodia, announced Monday that he was suspending his country's Constitution, dissolving its Parliament and initiating a three-year 'consensual transition.' Residents reported a precarious calm returning to the capital, Bangui, on Tuesday with less shooting and looting than on previous days, and some markets reopening. But there were also human rights violations by the rebel group, Seleka, according to an activist there."

AP: "Banks across Cyprus remain locked Tuesday after financial authorities extended the country's bank closure, fearing worried depositors will rush to drain their accounts.... All but two of the country's largest lenders had been due to reopen Tuesday, after being shut since March 16...."

Reuters: "Taliban suicide bombers< killed at least five policemen in Afghanistan's restive east on Tuesday, officials said, in a three-hour attack that coincided with a visit to the country by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The pre-dawn attack on a police compound in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan's largest city, came as the country braces for the beginning of the spring fighting season in the 11th year of the war." ...

... Washington Post: Afghan businesswomen with whom Kerry met "... had specific requests: better access to credit, government contracting set-asides for women-owned businesses and, from Mahmoodi, more soccer pitches for women.... The Obama administration has said ... [that] the kind of large-scale foreign help that Afghanistan will need is likely to be partly contingent on safeguarding gains for women."

AP: "Syrian opposition representatives took the country's seat for the first time at an Arab League summit that opened in Qatar on Tuesday, a significant diplomatic boost for the forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime. In a ceremonious entrance accompanied by applause, a delegation led by Mouaz al-Khatib, the former president of the main opposition alliance -- the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition -- took the seats assigned for Syria at the invitation of Qatar's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani."

AP: "Italy's highest criminal court on Tuesday overturned [American] Amanda Knox's acquittal in the slaying of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the United States."