memeorandum: A Cruel and Unusual Record (Jimmy Carter/New York Times)

3:45 PM ET, June 25, 2012

Top Items:

5 Signs of a Radical Change in U.S. Politics — (Midnight update: This item went up three hours ago with a more blunt-instrument headline than it should ever have had: “5 Signs the United States is Undergoing a Coup.” I used the word “coup” in a particular way in the longer item this was drawn from.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Brad DeLong, Althouse, Firedoglake, Ezra Klein, NewsBusters.org blogs, American Prospect, Balkinization, The Volokh Conspiracy, The PJ Tatler, Daily Kos, Business Insider, The Impolitic, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Balloon Juice and Jammie Wearing Fools

Kevin Russell / SCOTUSblog:

Court strikes down much of Arizona immigration law — This morning, the Court handed down its decision in Arizona v. United States, the case involving Arizona's attempt to supplement federal immigration enforcement through several state law measures. The Court reviewed four provisions of the statute …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Monthly, neo-neocon, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, NewsBusters.org, Booman Tribune, iOwnTheWorld.com, GayPatriot and ImmigrationProf Blog

Wall Street Journal:

Supreme Court Upholds Key Part of Arizona Law — The Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's tough immigration law but struck down others as intrusions on federal sovereignty, in a ruling that gave both sides something to cheer in advance of November elections where immigration is a major issue.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Los Angeles Times, Little Green Footballs, Law Blog, New York Magazine, JustOneMinute, Washington Post, Hit & Run, The Raw Story, Wake up America, New York Times, Salon, American Power, Sister Toldjah, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com and The Right Scoop

Sahil Kapur / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:

TPMDC — Justice Scalia Rages Against Obama On Immigration — In his aggressive defense of Arizona's immigration law, Justice Antonin Scalia pointedly went after President Obama's recent immigration policy shift and accused him of deliberately refusing to enforce immigration statutes.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Little Green Footballs, American Prospect, SCOTUSblog, Talking Points Memo, Riehl World View, The Atlantic Online, The Maddow Blog, Dave Winer, INSTAPUTZ, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Salon

New York Times:

Blocking Parts of Arizona Law, Justices Allow Its Centerpiece — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday delivered a split decision on Arizona's tough 2010 immigration law, upholding its most controversial provision but blocking the implementation of others.

Discussion: Washington Post, msnbc.com, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway, The New Republic, Washington Examiner and Guardian

Mj Lee / Politico:

Jan Brewer: SCOTUS ruling a ‘victory’ — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling Monday on her state's tough immigration law, calling the court's decision a “victory for the rule of law.” — “Today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a victory for the rule of law.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Boston Globe, Associated Press, Hit & Run, The Caucus, Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

The White House:

Statement by the President on the Supreme Court's Ruling on Arizona v. the United States — I am pleased that the Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Arizona's immigration law. What this decision makes unmistakably clear is that Congress must act on comprehensive immigration reform.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Caucus, Mediaite, Law Blog, Daily Kos and americanthinker.com

Associated Press:
High Court Rejects Part of Arizona Immigration Law

Discussion: American Spectator, Globe and Mail, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER and AEIdeas

Rachel Leven / The Hill:
Supreme Court summarily reverses Montana's Citizens United case

Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS, ABCNEWS and Jammie Wearing Fools

Associated Press:
Court Rejects Corporate Campaign Spending Limits

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune, Outside the Beltway, Truthdig and Swampland

Mike Sacks / The Huffington Post:
Arizona Immigration Law ‘Gutted’ In Split Supreme Court Ruling

Discussion: The New Republic

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To ‘Show Me Your Papers,’ Strikes Down Part Of Arizona Immigration Law

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, The Raw Story and The Political Carnival

CNN:
Supreme Court mostly rejects Arizona immigration law; gov says ‘heart’ remains

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Moderate Voice, Politicker and Angry Bear

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Supreme Court's Montana decision strengthens Citizens United

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Wake up America

New York Post: Slapping a friend — For the past couple of months …

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Supreme Court Declines to Revisit Citizens United

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Washington Post and msnbc.com

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Supreme Court Decision On Arizona's Immigration Law Provides Strong Support For Obama's Immigration Order

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Feministing

Richard Pildes / Election Law Blog:
Breaking News: The Montana Campaign Finance Decision, the Supreme Court, and “Public Opinion”

Discussion: Firedoglake, National Review, The Political Carnival and Taylor Marsh

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
Four Takeaways From Today's Arizona Immigration Decision

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Supreme Court upholds key immigration status check provision of Arizona law

Discussion: Examiner

Tom Curry / msnbc.com:
High court affirms corporations' right to political spending

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and Cagle Post

Jimmy Carter / New York Times:

A Cruel and Unusual Record — THE United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights. — Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation's violation of human rights has extended.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Salon, ThinkProgress, Guardian, Hit & Run, ABCNEWS, Mediaite, LewRockwell.com Blog, Weasel Zippers, The Agonist and naked capitalism

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Hispanic Voters Put Other Issues Before Immigration — Healthcare, unemployment are tops among six issues tested — PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. Hispanics prioritize immigration, healthcare, and unemployment to equal degrees, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll asking about the importance of six national policy issues.

Discussion: Ballot Box, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Univision News Tumblr, Pirate's Cove, GOP 12, New York Magazine and The Page

Susan Page / USA Today:
USA TODAY/Gallup Poll: Latinos strongly backing Obama

Discussion: Washington Post, Little Green Footballs, Outside the Beltway, Washington Wire and ABCNEWS

Javier Manjarres / The Shark Tank:

DNC Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz Getting Booted — Back in April, the Shark Tank floated the likelihood that Democratic National Committee Chairwoman (DNC) Debbie Wasserman Schultz was perhaps on her way out as DNC Chairwoman. We now have learned that Wasserman Schultz will not be back as DNC Chairwoman after the November elections.

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, americanthinker.com, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, UrbanGrounds, The Lonely Conservative, Jammie Wearing Fools and The Daily Caller

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

Hill Poll: Voters: Obama over-reached blocking Fast and Furious docs — A clear majority of likely voters believes President Obama has exercised his executive power inappropriately — particularly in blocking the release of documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious, according to a new poll for The Hill.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fools and americanthinker.com

Garth Johnston / Gothamist:

Crazy Anti-Semitic Elmo Captured In Central Park — Elmo gets carried away on a stretcher (@Kathleen_Loftus's twitter). — Could Shackle Me Elmo—"press his belly and he spews anti-Semitic vitriol!"—be the next big thing? We ask because not everyone was happy in yesterday's beautiful weather …

Discussion: Gawker, The Daily What and nation.foxnews.com

NY Daily News:
Elmo imposter hassles tourists for money and gets booted from Central Park Zoo

Discussion: Mediaite and New York Magazine

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Great Abdication — Among economists who know their history, the mere mention of certain years evokes shivers. For example, three years ago Christina Romer, then the head of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, warned politicians not to re-enact 1937 — the year F.D.R. shifted …

Discussion: The Monkey Cage, Firedoglake, Business Insider and News Desk

American Research Group:

2012 US President Ballot — The following results are based on 535 completed telephone interviews among a statewide random sample of registered voters in New Hampshire. Of the 535 interviews, 180 were among registered Republicans, 161 registered Democrats, and 194 undeclared voters.

Discussion: GOP 12 and CNN

Climate Guest Blogger / ThinkProgress:

Simple Solutions For Cooling Down Hot Cars — by Greg Rucks, via Rocky Mountain Institute — On this first day of summer, many car owners are likely to experience the following scenario: enter your car to leave work for the day and the temperature is sweltering—much hotter than outside.

Discussion: Mother Jones

Lewis Page / The Register:

Antarctic ice shelves not melting at all, new field data show — Crafty boffins got elephant seals to survey for them — Twenty-year-old models which have suggested serious ice loss in the eastern Antarctic have been compared with reality for the first time - and found to be wrong …

Discussion: Questions and Observations