memeorandum: CAIR membership plummets (Washington Times)

8:35 PM ET, June 11, 2007

Top Items:

Appeals Court Orders Enemy Combatant Free by Military — In a stinging rejection of one of the Bush administration's central assertions about the scope of executive authority to combat terrorism, a federal appeals court ordered the Pentagon to release a man being held as an enemy combatant.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Kiko's House, At-Largely, The Carpetbagger Report, Outside The Beltway, The Gun Toting Liberal™, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Watching Those We Chose, About U.S. Politics, Sister Toldjah, Prairie Weather and Truthdig

Marty Lederman / Balkinization:

al-Marri Reactions I — The Hidden Alternative Holding (Surprise — It's About Abusive Interrogation!) — The principal merits holding in the court of appeals' opinion today in al-Marri is that Congress has not authorized the indefinite military detention of a person who is (i) …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The American Street, The Mahablog, The Atlantic Online and Brian Beutler

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

President denied authority to detain civilians in U.S. — UPDATE at 3:15 p.m. The Justice Department said on Monday that it will ask the full 12-member Fourth Circuit Court to reconsider en banc the panel decision in Al-Marri v. Wright (Circuit docket 06-7427).

Discussion: Human Rights First, Balkinization, ACSBlog and Althouse

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Federal Court Rules in Favor of 'Enemy Combatant' — A federal appeals court today ruled that the U.S. government cannot indefinitely imprison a U.S. resident on suspicion alone, and ordered the military to either charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with his alleged terrorist crimes in a civilian court or release him.

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Zinie Chen Sampson / Associated Press:
Court rules in favor of enemy combatant

Discussion: The Anonymous Liberal, Best of Both Worlds, TalkLeft, My Two Sense and Macsmind

Jason Steck / The Moderate Voice:
Enemy Combatants — Citing an overreach of executive power …

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Comments From Left Field and Watching Those We Chose

Orin Kerr / The Volokh Conspiracy: FOURTH CIRCUIT RULES THAT SUSPECTED TERRORIST CANNOT BE SEIZED …

The Raw Story:

Gonzales 'no confidence' vote fails; 7 GOP switched sides — The New York Democrat raised the point while responding to an effort by Senate Republicans to argue that Schumer was committing a conflict of interest by investigating the Justice Department in the Judiciary Committee while also leading …

Discussion: The American Street and BobGeiger.com

Leader's Journal releases of democrats:

Americans Have Lost Confidence in the Attorney General — Today, every Senator will have the opportunity to go on record and either approve or disapprove of the performance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales has repeatedly shown that he lacks the leadership necessary to run the Justice Department.

Discussion: TPMmuckraker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Washington Times, Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!

William Branigin / Washington Post:

No-Confidence Resolution Against Gonzales Fails in Senate — Senate Republicans today derailed a Democratic resolution expressing no confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, refusing to cut off debate on a measure they denounced as a meaningless political stunt.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and About U.S. Politics

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Bush Vows to Get Immigration Bill Passed

Discussion: Brian Beutler and Truthdig

New York Times: No-Confidence Vote on Gonzales Fails in the Senate

Byron York / National Review:
The No-Confidence-in-Gonzales Vote

Discussion: Associated Press and Brian Beutler

Frank Newport / Gallup Poll:

Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution — More Americans accept theory of creationism than evolution — PRINCETON, NJ — The majority of Republicans in the United States do not believe the theory of evolution is true and do not believe that humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Carpetbagger Report, Balkinization, Liberal Values, Pharyngula, DownWithTyranny!, Hullabaloo, Amygdala, Vox Popoli, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway and Air America Radio

Cernig / The Newshoggers:

Retrocessive Intellectual Evolution — This has to be one of the saddest things I've read all week: … It is sad because it is entirely symptomatic of the lazy thinking that infests too many issues. It has become de rigeur to ignore nuanced or complex positions in favor of simplistic narratives …

Discussion: Comments From Left Field, Happy Furry Puppy Story … and Done With Mirrors

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Video: Dennis Miller goes nuclear on Harry Reid — The e-mails are flooding in. You want it? You got it. — If Rasmussen's right, this should resonate broadly. — Blowback

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, BLACKFIVE and Oliver Willis

Faiz / Think Progress:
Reid: 'I Don't Agree' With Lieberman, Iran Attack Will Only Further …

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, Hot Air and Washington Times

Rasmussen Reports:
Harry Reid's Favorables Fall to 19%

Discussion: QandO and Blue Crab Boulevard

Mudcat / TIME: Swampland:

Go Ahead And Shoot At Me — I woke up this morning and was going to start my stint as a guest correspondent by trying to kick up a dialogue on how my people in rural America are getting screwed into the stone ages. As an inexperienced blogger (I think this is the third time I've posted anything) …

Discussion: Instapundit.com, National Review, Daily Kos, bustardblog, Cliff Schecter, TPMCafe blogs, MyDD, The Atlantic Online and New Pairodimes

Washington Times:

CAIR membership plummets — ONLINE EXCLUSIVE / DEVELOPING: — Membership in the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has declined more than 90 percent since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Audrey Hudson will report in Tuesday's editions of The Washington Times.

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, The Jawa Report, The Belmont Club, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

Patricia Cohen / New York Times:

Richard Rorty, Philosopher, Dies at 75 — Richard Rorty, whose inventive work on philosophy, politics, literary theory and more made him one of the world's most influential contemporary thinkers, died Friday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 75. — The cause was complications from pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Mary Varney Rorty.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Greg Mankiw's Blog and Power Line

Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:
Richard Rorty, 75; Leading U.S. Pragmatist Philosopher

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Coffee House and normblog

Meghan O'Rourke / Slate:

Diamonds Are a Girl's Worst Friend — THE TROUBLE WITH ENGAGEMENT RINGS. — The retail fantasy known as a "traditional" American wedding comprises many delicious absurdities, ranging from personalized wedding stamps to ring pillows designed for dogs to favors like "Love Mints."

Discussion: National Review, Captain's Quarters and Pandagon

Nikki Finke / Deadline Hollywood Daily:

THAAAT'S What We Were All Waiting For? Angry 'Sopranos' Fans Crash HBO Website — The line to cancel HBO starts here. What a ridiculously disappointing end lacking in creativity and filled with cowardice to The Sopranos saga. But if you're one of those who found it perversely interesting, then don't bother to read on.