U. loses to Attorney General (a BYU grad)

BYU and Utah won't square off on the gridiron until Nov. 25, but BYU already has scored a victory of sorts over Utah. But this one came in the legal arena rather than the sports arena. I haven't read the opinion yet, but that won't stop me from commenting -- the University of Utah was dealt a blow by the Utah Supreme Court today when the Court decided that the U. could not ban concealed-weapon permit holders from carrying guns on campus.

In its decision today, written by Justice Jill Parrish, the Court sided with the Utah Legislature, which had passed a law stating that concealed-permit holders could carry guns anywhere in the state. But the U. sued Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a BYU grad and former BYU football player.

So score one for the Cougars and those who like to tote a gun to class.

Ultimately, BYU might be a loser here too since the University has a policy against carrying guns on campus. Not sure yet how this will affect BYU's policy, though.

Yellowstone bison

Baby bison and kids.

Polygamist judge removed

The Utah Supreme Court today agreed with the Judicial Conduct Commission that a polygamist judge from southern Utah should be removed from the bench. Although Justice Court Judge Walter K. Steed contended that the state's bigamy statute was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court held that he would be bringing the judiciary into disrepute by violating the law while trying to adjudicate cases.

More Hatch on Alito

Sen. Hatch is now saying that because Judge Alito already is a federal judge, he cannot issue advisory opinions. Thus, he cannot speak about how he would decide cases likely to come before the Supreme Court.

Hatch is now referring to the Ruth Bader Ginsburg confirmation hearing in 1993. He says she didn't answer certain questions. He is thus setting up Judge Alito not to have to answer questions about, among other things, abortion.

I don't think it's word-for-word, but Senator Hatch's speech today is very similar to the one he gave at the outset of the confirmation hearing for Chief Justice John Roberts. I remember that, at that time, he pre-defended Roberts and set the stage for Roberts not to have to answer certain questions.

Now Hatch is saying Judge Alito's entire record, not just selective portions of it, must be considered. There are 36,000 pages of material before the Judiciary Committee. "We must apply a judicial, not a political standard, to this record," Hatch says.

Sen. Hatch on Alito

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is now speaking on Judge Alito. He says this nomination is a "debate over the judiciary itself... how much control judges should have over a written Constitution that belongs to the people."

Sen. Hatch then says the right place to start is determine what judges are supposed to do, and then measure Judge Alito against that. Hatch is giving a lesson on civics -- the President nominates judges and then Senate gives advice by giving or withholding consent. That advice is designed to help the President determine whether to actually appoint a judge.

"Judges are not politicians," Hatch says. "Judges must decide cases, not champion causes. Judges must decide legal cases, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law."

Judge Alito confirmation hearing begins

The Senate Judiciary Committee just started the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Samuel Alito of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has just said that Judge Alito's hundreds of published judicial opinions can be read selectively to paint him either as a "flaming liberal" or an "arch conservative."

Personally, I am looking forward to the testimony, on behalf of Judge Alito, of Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert. That should come later this week or early next week.

Good, bad, ugly

The Salt Lake Tribune today reports that a Utah legislator wants to repeal Utah's already-declared-unconstitutional 19th century criminal libel law. Good.

The same legislator, however, wants to codify the actual malice standard within the 1973 criminal defamation law. Bad. Rather than solidifying the law by eliminating any argument based on New York Times v. Sullivan, why not just get rid of it altogether? That would be better.

And there's an update on the former Utah high school student who successfully challenged the criminal libel law as unconstitutional. He's in Iraq with the military now. Ugly.

Solomon Amendment arguments

Interesting story in today's New York Times about oral arguments yesterday in the law schools' challenge to the federal law that requires them to grant access to military grant in exchange for millions of dollars in federal funding. I liked this exchange between Joshua Rosenkranz, lawyer for the law schools, and new Chief Justice John Roberts:

"I'm sorry, but on 'compelled speech,' nobody thinks that this law school is speaking through those employers who come onto its campus for recruitment," the chief justice said. "Nobody thinks the law school believes everything that the employers are doing or saying."

The lawyer adjusted his focus. The law schools have their own message, "that they believe it is immoral to abet discrimination," he said.

This time, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took issue. "But they can say that to every student who enters the room," she said.

"And when they do it, your honor, the answer of the students is, we don't believe you," Mr. Rosenkranz said.

"The reason they don't believe you is because you're willing to take the money," Chief Justice Roberts interjected. "What you're saying is this is a message we believe in strongly, but we don't believe in it to the detriment of $100 million."

Photogs and the First Amendment

It seems that there is some doubt in Salt Lake County about whether people have the right to stand on a public sidewalk holding a camera. By settling the lawsuit brought by a photographer, however, South Salt Lake seems to be acknowledging that the First Amendment does exist there.

Podcast testing

Live from the Media Convergence Conference 2005 is Podcasting 101.

Our great mp3!