memeorandum: Poll reveals most negative assessment of Iraq war yet (Alexander Mooney/CNN Political Ticker)

6:15 PM ET, April 18, 2007

Top Items:

Court Backs Ban on Abortion Procedure — WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long- awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench. — The 5-4 ruling said the Partial …

Discussion: Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Wizbang, The Volokh Conspiracy, Hotline On Call, The Strata-Sphere, The Mahablog, Right Wing News, Blue Crab Boulevard, The New York Observer …, Unfogged, The Democratic Daily, Outside The Beltway, Macsmind, Vox Popoli, Middle Earth Journal and CorrenteWire

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

Court upholds federal abortion ban — Dividing 5-4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gave a sweeping — and only barely qualified — victory to the federal government and to other opponents of abortion, upholding the 2003 law that banned what are often called "partial-birth abortions."

Bill Mears / CNN:

Justices uphold ban on abortion procedure … WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a law that banned a type of late-term abortion, a ruling that could portend enormous social, legal and political implications for the divisive issue. — The sharply divided 5-4 ruling could prove historic.

Discussion: The Caucus, Cliff Schecter, Brilliant at Breakfast, Patterico's Pontifications, ProfessorBainbridge.com ® and SCOTUSblog

Washington Post:

Court Backs Ban on Late-Term Abortion Procedure — The Supreme Court today narrowly upheld a nationwide ban on a controversial late-term abortion procedure, voting for the first time to restrict abortion rights and handing a major victory to President Bush and his social conservative allies.

Discussion: Political Animal, AMERICAblog and Blue Gal

Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
The Profound Effects of Justice O'Connor's Retirement

Discussion: SCOTUSblog

Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy:
PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION BAN UPHELD, BUT ON NARROW GROUND: The opinions are here.

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
`Partial Birth' Abortion Ban Upheld by Top U.S. Court (Update2)

Discussion: Think Progress, NION, On Deadline, On Politics and PoliPundit.com

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Breaking: Supreme Court upholds federal ban on partial-birth …

Discussion: eyeon08.com, Captain's Quarters, protein wisdom, The Hillary Spot, Redstate, Shakesville, Instapundit.com, Ed Driscoll.com and Verum Serum

Ann / Feministing:
"Today's decision is alarming."

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns and Money and Matthew Yglesias

Glenn Reynolds / NY Daily News:

People don't stop killers. People with guns do — On Monday, as the news of the Virginia Tech shootings was unfolding, I went into my advanced constitutional law seminar to find one of my students upset. My student, Tara Wyllie, has a permit to carry a gun in Tennessee, but she isn't allowed to have a weapon on campus.

ABCNEWS:

VT Killer Ruled Mentally Ill by Court; Let Go After Hospital Visit — Harassed Two Female Students; Concerns He Was Suicidal — A Virginia court found that Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho was "mentally ill" and potentially dangerous. Then the state let him go.

Discussion: Leibowitz's Canticle

New York Times:

Two-Hour Delay Is Linked to Bad Lead — The police identified Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student, as the killer of 32 people in the shooting rampage at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, releasing new information on Tuesday about the troubled mind of a young man few people on campus knew.

Discussion: Hot Air, MSNBC, Althouse, Telegraph Blogs, Flopping Aces, TalkLeft, Captain's Quarters, The Strata-Sphere, Feministe, The Volokh Conspiracy and On Deadline

Jules Crittenden:

Killer Reax — People with guns stop killers." — Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom: "Nanny-Statism — in its efforts to protect — succeeds only in infantilizing the culture." — Harry Reid, rare moment of clarity, warns against a rush to gun control.

Discussion: Don Surber

MSNBC:

Va. killer had contact with police before attack — Cho was accused of stalking 2 women, was taken to mental health facility — Cho Seung-Hui, who immigrated to the United States at age 8 in 1992, lived in Centreville, Va., a suburb of Washington. — Video: Massacre at Virginia Tech

Discussion: CNN, Riehl World View, Joanne Jacobs, Southern Sass on Crime, TIME, No More Mister Nice Blog, Dick Polman's American Debate, CNN Political Ticker, Captain's Quarters, Think Progress, Kiko's House, Sister Toldjah, Blogs of War, NO QUARTER, On Deadline, Romenesko, Scared Monkeys and Shakesville

Jack Shafer / Slate:
In Praise of Insensitive Reporters

Discussion: CJR Daily and Blog P.I.

James Fallows:
Virginia Tech shooting: one American woman terrifies China

Discussion: Political Animal

Matthew Yglesias:
In Defense of Crass Politicization

Discussion: Blog P.I.

Dinesh D'Souza / News Bloggers Blog:
Where Is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?

Discussion: Pharyngula

David B. Kopel / Wall Street Journal:
'Gun-Free Zones' — The bucolic campus of Virginia Tech …

Discussion: Debbie Schlussel

Jeff Goldstein / protein wisdom: "People don't stop killers. People with guns do"

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup Poll:

Democratic Race Tightens as Views of Clinton Become More Negative — Forty-five percent favorable rating one of lowest ever for Clinton — PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans have an unfavorable image of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, Booman Tribune, Don Surber, Brendan Nyhan, Right Wing News and On Politics

Alexander Mooney / CNN Political Ticker:

Poll reveals most negative assessment of Iraq war yet — In the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, taken April 10-12, 69 percent of Americans say things are going badly for the United States in Iraq. That's the most negative assessment yet recorded, up from 54 percent …

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, The Carpetbagger Report, TalkLeft and Daily Kos

David Ignatius / Washington Post:

A New Threat In Iraq — While the Bush administration struggles to stabilize Baghdad, a major new threat is emerging in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. If it isn't defused, this crisis could further erode U.S. goals in Iraq — drawing foreign military intervention …

Discussion: Middle Earth Journal

Matthew Yglesias:
How Come Nobody Thought of This!?!?!

Discussion: TIME: Swampland and Eschaton

Paul Blumenthal / Sunlight Foundation blogs:

Who Placed a Secret Hold on Sunlight? — Yet again an anonymous Senator has placed a secret hold on legislation that would increase transparency. This time a secret hold has been placed on a bill, S. 223, that would mandate that Senators file their campaign finance reports electronically.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and The Impolitic

Ian / Hot Air:

Video: Eisner says it's time to get the public "emotional" about gun control — Appeals to reason are so passe. Or so suggested the former Disney CEO during his appearance this afternoon on CNBC's "Power Lunch," in which he called explicitly for the abolition of handguns in America.