memeorandum: Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal. (petitions.whitehouse.gov)

8:50 PM ET, January 25, 2013

Top Items:

COURT: OBAMA APPOINTMENTS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday. — A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals …

Discussion: NLRB, Weekly Standard, Washington Times, Hot Air, Right Turn, Taylor Marsh, The Plum Line, The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, A plain blog about politics, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Twitchy, Poynter and UrbanGrounds

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:

Neoconfederate Judges Rule NLRB Recess Appointments Unconstitutional — Oh, great. The opinion is an atrocity, classic “hack originalism for dummies,” relying heavily on the fact that recess appointments during nominal sessions of the Senate are a relatively recent phenomenon …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Esquire, Hullabaloo, ACS Blog, Wonkblog and The Moderate Voice

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board

Discussion: The BLT, Ricochet Conversations Feed, The New Republic, Above the Law and Outside the Beltway

John Elwood / The Volokh Conspiracy:
DC Circuit Strikes Down President Obama's Recess Appointments

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, emptywheel, Mother Jones and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Nicole Flatow / ThinkProgress:
Federal Appeals Court Invalidates Obama's Recess Appointments to NLRB

Discussion: Wonkblog, The National Memo, aflcio.org, Taking Note and Washington Post

Melanie Trottman / Wall Street Journal:
Court Rules Obama Recess Appointments Unconstitutional

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Associated Press, Commentary Magazine, Mediaite, Twitchy and The Huffington Post

Scott Conroy / Real Clear Politics:

Sarah Palin Parts Ways With FOX News — After a three-year run as a paid contributor to the nation's highest-rated cable news channel, Sarah Palin and FOX News have cut ties, according to a source close to the former Alaska governor. — “It's my understanding that Gov. Palin was offered a contract by FOX …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, The Crawdad Hole, TBogg, Politico, Rumproast, The Political Carnival, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin and The Other McCain

Brian Stelter / Media Decoder:

Fox News and Sarah Palin Part Ways — 5:53 p.m. | Updated “Sarah, where are you?” one of Sarah Palin's 3.4 million Facebook fans wrote on her wall last week. “Has your contract with Fox ended?” another fan had asked the day before. — Yes, Ms. Palin's contract with Fox News has ended, and no, it is not being renewed.

Discussion: The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Noah Rothman / Mediaite: Sarah Palin Out At Fox News Channel

Bob Lewis / Associated Press:

GOP senators will oppose VA electoral change — RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The prospects appear doomed in Virginia this year for Republican-backed legislation that would replace the state's winner-take-all method of apportioning presidential electoral votes with one that awards one vote to the winner of each congressional district.

Discussion: Politico, Post Politics and The Raw Story

Michael Sluss / Blue Ridge Caucus:
Updated: GOP Sen. Smith opposes bill to allocate presidential electoral votes by congressional district

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Maddow Blog, Slate, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Addicting Info, msnbc.com, First Read, Blue Virginia and The Week

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
This is a Big, Big Deal — A week ago I noted a new Republican push …

Discussion: The Mahablog and theGrio

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
The GOP Plan to Take the Electoral-Vote-Rigging Scheme National

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Reuters and The New Republic

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
“Rigging” the electoral system only is bad when it hurts Democrats

Discussion: Mother Jones, National Review, Power Line, Business Insider, American Prospect and The New Republic

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Five Reasons Bobby Jindal Is Responsible For Transforming The GOP Into ‘The Stupid Party’ — Days after Mitt Romney lost his bid for the presidency, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) kicked off a publicity campaign for his 2016 run, casting himself as a different kind of Republican.

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Political Carnival, Right Wing Watch and Washington Monthly

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:
Full text: Bobby Jindal's dynamite speech to the Republican National Committee in Charlotte

Discussion: Mother Jones, Hot Air, Slate, The Plum Line, Associated Press, The Week, The PJ Tatler, Washington Monthly, Little Green Footballs, Sister Toldjah, Ricochet Conversations Feed, American Power, The Daily Caller, Prairie Weather and Politico

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Haley Barbour: ‘Stupid’ comments hurt GOP

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and CNN

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Who had the worst week in Washington? Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). — Wednesday didn't start out badly for Sen. Ronald H. Johnson. — Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin who was elected in 2010, drew national headlines — and praise from conservatives — for pushing Secretary …

Discussion: The Political Carnival, Business Insider, Politico, JSOnline and Daily Kos

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

CNN Anchor Tricks Opponent Of Women In Combat To Endorse Racial Segregation — Conservatives are outraged over Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's decision to lift the ban on women in combat, which opens up more than 200,000 frontline positions to women. Opponents of the move have called it “humiliating” and dangerous to unit cohesion.

Discussion: Addicting Info, Hullabaloo, AMERICAblog and thenewamerican.com

Pete Winn / CNSNews:
Gen. Dempsey: If Women Can't Meet Military Standard, Pentagon Will Ask ‘Does It Really Have to Be That High?’

Discussion: USA Today, defense.gov, Weasel Zippers, protein wisdom and The Moderate Voice

Jgalloway / Political Insider:

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss: Frustration with Washington drove him out — U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the leader of a bipartisan effort to address the federal deficit, this morning pointed to gridlock in Washington for his decision not to seek a third term in 2014. — A statement just released by his office includes this:

Toni Yates / ABC 7 Eyewitness News:

Booker helps freezing dog after Eyewitness News tweet … new jersey, newark, cory booker, dog, cold, cold weather, new jersey news, toni yates — More: Bio, Facebook, Twitter, Stories by Toni Yates, News Team — NEWARK, N.J. (WABC) — Eyewitness News reporter Toni Yates and her crew spotted …

Discussion: Addicting Info, TheBlaze.com, Politico, Gothamist, Gawker, The Raw Story and theGrio

Christina Ng / ABCNEWS:
N.J. Mayor Cory Booker Helps Rescue Freezing Dog

Discussion: Business Insider, msnbc.com and Balloon Juice

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

We Must Do Something About The Media — It's important. — I already mentioned the media's Hillary Tributes, but there's even more of it. — And I've mentioned this before, but I'm truly alarmed about it: What we are witnessing is the full and seamless fusion of media power with government power.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Riehl World News, neo-neocon, Roger Ailes and Hot Air

David Mamet / The Daily Beast:

Gun Laws and the Fools of Chelm† — The individual is not only best qualified to provide his own personal defense, he is the only one qualified to do so. By David Mamet. Get the full issue of Newsweek today on your iPad and other editions. — † A city in eastern Poland.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Power Line, Mediaite and Maggie's Farm

Wall Street Journal:

Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick: Solving the Immigration Puzzle — Some want illegals to return to their native countries and ‘wait in line’ like everyone else. There is no line. — The nation's capital is awash with ideas about how to fix America's immigration policy.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, 24Ahead, National Review, AEIdeas, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, First Read, Hit & Run, Washington Wire, Right Turn, Politico, Post Politics, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Washington Examiner and msnbc.com

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama to unveil immigration plan

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Jackie Calmes / The Caucus:
As Obama and Clinton Sit for Joint Interview, Some Look to 2016

Discussion: Mediaite

Aaron Klein / WorldNetDaily:

IS OBAMA BIBLICAL ‘LORD OF THE FLIES’? — Prophecy sites have field day with president's insect moments — Aaron Klein is WND's senior staff reporter and Jerusalem bureau chief. He also hosts “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York's WABC Radio. Follow Aaron on Twitter and Facebook.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Telegraph, the-end-time.blogspot.co.il, Revelation Now, Moonbattery and Right Wing Watch

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Noonan: Lessons Conservatives Need to Learn — Obama is a formidable foe. He means to change the country and crush the GOP. — Two lessons on how conservatives and Republicans might approach the future, and a look at the meaning of Obama. — Lesson one: Golf star Phil Mickelson …

Discussion: Hot Air and No More Mister Nice Blog

Anna Palmer / Politico:

Mitt Romney: 'I'm not going away' — Mitt Romney's campaign ended, but he's not getting out of politics. — Romney told top Washington bundlers, donors and senior campaign leadership in a meeting Friday morning that he would help out GOP candidates for governor in 2013 …

Discussion: CNN, Post Politics, Taegan Goddard's …, The Hill, Daily Kos and New Orleans Times-Picayune

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

New Mexico Bill Would Imprison Rape Victims Who Receive Abortions — Should a recently introduced bill in New Mexico become law, rape victims will be required to carry their pregnancies to term during their sexual assault trials or face charges of “tampering with evidence.”

Discussion: Addicting Info, Daily Kos, Feministing and Truthdig

petitions.whitehouse.gov:

Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal. — The Librarian of Congress decided in October 2012 that unlocking of cell phones would be removed from the exceptions to the DMCA. — As of January 26, consumers will no longer be able unlock their phones for use on a different network without carrier permission …

Discussion: AllThingsD, MacRumors, BBC, The Consumerist and The Moderate Voice

David Martosko / The Daily Caller:

Emails show FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican prostitutes — Documents published online for the first time Thursday indicate that the FBI opened an inquiry into New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez on August 1, 2012, focusing on repeated trips he took …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Betsy's Page