memeorandum: DICTUM: Whatever one might plausibly say about whether … (Eugene Volokh/The Volokh Conspiracy)

2:15 PM ET, March 9, 2007

Top Items:

Howard Bashman / How Appealing:

BREAKING NEWS — Divided three-judge D.C. Circuit panel holds that the District of Columbia's gun control laws violate individuals' Second Amendment rights: You can access today's lengthy D.C. Circuit ruling at this link. — According to the majority opinion, "[T]he phrase 'the right of the people …

Discussion: The BLT, Hot Air, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, The Right Angle, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Mark in Mexico, The Impolitic, Redstate, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Political Pit Bull, Transterrestrial Musings and Bob Krumm

Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit.com:

D.C. CIRCUIT STRIKES DOWN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GUN CONTROL LAW as a violation of the Second Amendment, adopts individual rights view. Howard Bashman has more, and the opinion is here. This is a very important development. — Some additional background on the Second Amendment can be found here, here and here.

Discussion: Cato-at-liberty

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

TIMETABLE ON SUPREME COURT REVIEW OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT CASE, AND THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Say that the D.C. Circuit decides not to rehear the case en banc; that probably means the en banc petition will be denied within several months. Assume that it's denied by late June …

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy:

D.C. CIRCUIT ACCEPTS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS VIEW OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT, strikes down D.C.'s gun control law. The opinions in the 2-1 decision, which I haven't read yet but which I will blog about later today, are here. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer.

Eugene Volokh / The Volokh Conspiracy: DICTUM: Whatever one might plausibly say about whether …

New York Times:

U.S. Report to Fault F.B.I. on Subpoenas — The Justice Department's inspector general has prepared a scathing report criticizing how the F.B.I. uses a form of administrative subpoena to obtain thousands of telephone, business and financial records without prior judicial approval.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Booman Tribune, Firedoglake, Balloon Juice, Hullabaloo, Prairie Weather, TIME: Swampland, Daily Kos, PBD and TPMmuckraker

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The FBI's lawbreaking is tied directly to President Bush — Multiple media outlets are focusing on the unsurprising story that the FBI seems to have been abusing its powers under the Patriot Act to issue so-called "national security letters" (NSLs), whereby the FBI is empowered to obtain …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Heretik, Unqualified Offerings and f a t c a t politics

CNN:

Audit: FBI snooping did not follow rules … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The FBI is guilty of "serious misuse" of the power to secretly obtain private information under the Patriot Act, a government audit said Friday. — The Justice Department's inspector general looked at the FBI's use …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Kiko's House and Cliff Schecter

Washington Post:
Frequent Errors In FBI's Secret Records Requests

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, The Impolitic, The Blotter, Is That Legal?, Empire Burlesque, Macsmind, Shakespeare's Sister, TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars, liberal catnip, On Deadline and War and Piece

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Another Hollywood star steps forward for GOP — Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) is contacting powerbrokers in the Republican Party to build support for a 2008 presidential campaign by his one-time protégé, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Wire, TIME, Ace of Spades HQ, Shakespeare's Sister, No Silence Here, First Read, The Influence Peddler, Transterrestrial Musings, Redstate, Alarming News, Save The GOP, Riehl World View and Bob Krumm

Jonathan Singer / MyDD:
Will Fred Dalton Thompson Emerge as the Consensus Conservative?

Discussion: Cox Washington and Outside The Beltway

Telegraph:

US sends spies into Pakistan to kill bin Laden — By Toby Harnden in Washington and Thomas Coghlan in Helmand — America is stepping up its hunt for Osama bin Laden by dispatching additional CIA operatives and paramilitary officers to Pakistan to kill or capture the al-Qa'eda leader.

Discussion: The Impolitic, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Power Line, The Huffington Post and At-Largely

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters: US Enters Pakistan On Bin Laden Hunt

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Fitzgerald's Folly — There are lies and there are memory lapses. Bill Clinton denied under oath having sex with Monica Lewinsky. Unless you're Wilt Chamberlain, sex is not the kind of thing you forget easily. Sandy Berger denied stuffing classified documents in his pants …

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, Blue Crab Boulevard and Betsy's Page

Joel Seidman / MSNBC:
Plame to testify before House committee

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Fred Langan / Telegraph:

Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' — Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study. — A survey of the animals' numbers in Canada's eastern Arctic has revealed …

Discussion: The Corner, Don Surber, The Belmont Club, Jules Crittenden and Riehl World View

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Candidate Clinton, Embracing the Trite and the True — Are you in it to win? Would you regard civil rights as the gift that keeps on giving? Do you believe in the American Dream, stupid? — If you answered yes to any of the above, you might consider supporting Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: First Read

Shane Harris / National Journal:

Rolling Back Pentagon Spies — Defense Secretary Robert Gates is considering a plan to curtail the Pentagon's clandestine spying activities, which were expanded by his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, after the 9/11 attacks. The undercover work allowed military personnel to collect intelligence …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Washington Note, Political Animal and NO QUARTER

johnshadegg.house.gov:

Shadegg Introduces Bill Requiring Congress to Cite Constitutional Authority — Shadegg- "The Enumerated Powers Act would hold Congress accountable for its actions." — Yesterday, Congressman John Shadegg reintroduced the Enumerated Powers Act, a bill that highlights the importance …

Discussion: QandO, Save The GOP, The Right Angle and Outside The Beltway