Top Items:
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Gun rights extended by Supreme Court — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court held Monday that the Constitution's Second Amendment restrains government's ability to significantly limit “the right to keep and bear arms,” advancing a recent trend by the John Roberts-led bench to embrace gun rights.
Discussion:
The Politico, Townhall.com, Michelle Malkin, Polling Matters, theblogprof, Hot Air, Committee for Justice Blog, Balkinization, Tammy Bruce, newsfeed.time.com, Questions and Observations, Taylor Marsh, La Shawn Barber's Corner, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Awl, Shot in the Dark, Outside the Beltway, PostPartisan and Swampland
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Glenn Reynolds / Instapundit:
OKAY, having quickly skimmed the McDonald opinion, a few thoughts. — First, it's 5-4. Though a pro-gun-rights opinion may pacify the gun-rights crowd to a degree, the closeness of these decisions is likely to keep them active in upcoming elections. — Second, it shows how little influence legal academics have.
The Politico:
GOP plans attack on Kagan — Republicans, who decided early on that they stood little chance of defeating Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, settled instead on making her confirmation process a “teachable moment” to highlight the dangers of liberal judicial activism.
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Rules That Gun Rights Apply to Local Laws — WASHINGTON — The Second Amendment's guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision. — The ruling came almost exactly two years …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, Room for Debate, TalkLeft, Israpundit, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, ACS Blog and iOwnTheWorld.com
Ian M. / Think Progress:
After Slamming ‘Activist’ Judges, Sessions Criticizes Kagan As Insufficiently Activist — Confirmation hearings are set to begin today on the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the United States Supreme Court. Yesterday, appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Senate Judiciary …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Post, The Swamp, Daily Kos, The New Republic and Media Matters for America
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
NRA prepares lawsuits in wake of Chicago verdict
NRA prepares lawsuits in wake of Chicago verdict
Discussion:
FrumForum
Sam Youngman / The Hill:
Kagan: Court must be ‘properly deferential’ to Congress, voters
Kagan: Court must be ‘properly deferential’ to Congress, voters
Discussion:
The Politico
Mallory Simon / This Just In:
Court rules for gun rights, strikes Chicago handgun ban
Court rules for gun rights, strikes Chicago handgun ban
Discussion:
Reuters, Beltway Confidential, Hit & Run, The Sundries Shack, BizzyBlog, NewsBusters.org and Raw Story
Adam Clymer / New York Times:
Robert Byrd, Respected Voice of the Senate, Dies at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, who used his record tenure as a United States senator to fight for the primacy of the legislative branch of government and to build a modern West Virginia with vast amounts of federal money, died early on Monday. He was 92.
Discussion:
The Politico, Rough Sketch, The Atlantic Online, The Note, CNN, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blog, NewsBusters.org, Firedoglake, FiveThirtyEight, Charleston Gazette, www.thetakeaway.org, Crooks and Liars, The Hill, Power Line, The Foundry, The Huffington Post, Beltway Confidential, West Virginia Blue, Time, A plain blog about politics, The Plum Line, Left Coast Rebel, Vanity Fair, Cato @ Liberty, Concurring Opinions, Facing South, Flopping Aces, No More Mister Nice Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Caucus, skippy the bush kangaroo, Wonkette, The Washington Independent, Guardian, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, Truthdig, Shakesville, alicublog, The Glittering Eye, The Moderate Voice, Althouse, NY Daily News, Daily Kos, DISSENTING JUSTICE, News Desk, Pam's House Blend and WVPubcast
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David Broder / The Fix:
Byrd's death triggers special election...but when? — Sen. Robert Byrd's death will trigger a special election. But, when? AP Photo. — The death of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D) will trigger a fierce battle to replace him, although the timing of that race remains an open question.
Joe Holley / Washington Post:
West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92 — Robert C. Byrd, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and …
Discussion:
Think Progress, Charleston Daily Mail, Don Surber, CNN, NPR, Wall Street Journal, The Corner on National …, Ezra Klein, Big Journalism, Taylor Marsh, Wonk Room, The Washington Note, msnbc.com, Fausta's Blog, The Greenroom, Washington Monthly, NewsBusters.org, Balloon Juice, JustOneMinute, Scared Monkeys, Hotline On Call, The Page and Connecting.the.Dots
Jonathan Allen / The Politico:
Law murky on succession
Law murky on succession
Discussion:
Politics Daily, The Atlantic Online, Salon, MyDD, ABCNEWS, Associated Press, The Nation, msnbc.com, Runnin' Scared, Michelle Malkin, The Note and CNN
Martin Kady II / The Politico:
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Senate loses ‘venerable institution’
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Hot Air, The Note, Open Left, NewsReal Blog, ABCNEWS, Questions and Observations, FiveThirtyEight, Ben Smith's Blog, Weekly Standard and CNN
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Third Depression — Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment …
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David Weigel / Big Government:
Hubris and Humility: David Weigel Comes Clean on Washington Post, the D.C. Bubble, & the ‘Journolist’ — In the first (and still best) “Austin Powers” film, a United Nations representative makes a faux pas and calls the film's villain “Mr. Evil.” — “It's Dr. Evil,” he huffs.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Do I Have Anything Interesting to Say? — Kartik Athreya, a self-described “rank-and-file PhD economist operating within a central banking system” who by his own admission has “contributed no earth-shaking ideas to Economics and work fundamentally as a worker bee chipping away with known tools …
Discussion:
Grasping Reality …
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Boston Globe:
Brown outpolls Kerry, Obama — US Senator Scott Brown, who only months ago was a little-known figure even within the tiny band of Republicans in the state Senate, not only catapulted to national stature with his upset US Senate victory, but is today the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts, according to a Boston Globe poll.
John Monk / The State:
U.S. Sen. race: Greene's finances subject of SLED investigation — State agency wants to know how U.S. Senate candidate could afford filing fee — SLED and the 5th Circuit solicitor's office are investigating the finances of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene to see whether …
Phil Rogers / NBC Chicago:
Blagojevich Considered Oprah for Senator — As if she weren't powerful enough, Rod Blagojevich seriously considered asking Chicago heavyweight Oprah Winfrey to take over the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. — “Nobody would assail this pick,” he says in tapes recorded on Nov. 21, 2008.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Most Approve of Obama Decision to Remove Gen. McChrystal — Those following story closely back Obama by roughly 2 to 1 — PRINCETON, NJ — A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans approving of President Obama's decision to remove Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
Why I Denied David Frum's Website A Spot In The Blogads Conservative Hive — It's no surprise that a guy like David Frum would be defending Dave Weigel, who resigned from the WAPO after his private comments mocking conservatives went public and proved exactly what conservatives have been saying all along …
James Surowiecki / New Yorker:
GREATER FOOLS — Halfway through his Presidency, George W. Bush called on the country to build “an ownership society.” He trumpeted the soaring rate of U.S. homeownership, and extolled the virtues of giving individuals more control over their own financial lives.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online
Media Czech / Barefoot and Progressive:
Rand Paul refuses to say how old the earth is — I attended a fancy Christian Homeschool Educators of Kentucky (CHEK) conference on Friday, where Liberty Christ himself showed up to give a sermon and answer (and dodge) a few questions. — Here is the question and answer session:
Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
24 percent of Americans believe Obama was born outside the U.S. — Long after the question of President Obama's birthplace should have been put to rest, a new poll shows that nearly one in four Americans believe the “birther” lunacy that the president was born outside the country.
Discussion:
Guardian