memeorandum: The U.S. must open the book on the use of torture to move forward (Eric T. Fair/Washington Post)

1:40 PM ET, April 12, 2014

Top Items:

John Paul Stevens / Washington Post:

Justice Stevens: The five extra words that can fix the Second Amendment — John Paul Stevens served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010. This essay is excerpted from his new book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution.”

Discussion: Althouse, Josh Blackman's Blog, Lawyers, Guns & Money and American Prospect

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Obama, Citing New Laws, Says the G.O.P. Is Moving to Restrict Voting Rights — President Obama deplored on Friday what he called a Republican campaign to deny voting rights to millions of Americans as he ramped up efforts to rally his political base heading into a competitive midterm campaign season.

Discussion: Liberaland

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Obama hits GOP on voting rights — President Barack Obama struck hard at restrictive voting rights laws Friday, calling them a Republican political tactic conceived to address a made-up problem. — Pretending that there's widespread impropriety, he said, is just about keeping Democrats from winning.

Discussion: The Reaction and CNN

CNN: Obama on ‘birther’ controversy: ‘That was crazy’

Associated Press: Obama: Right to vote under threat in the US

Wall Street Journal:

Advice and ObamaCare Consent — Sebelius's replacement deserves a full-scale Senate vetting. — Kathleen Sebelius has been let out a rear door of the Health and Human Services Department, and her exit is an opportunity for getting some ObamaCare accountability.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Barbara Shelly / Kansas City Star:
Give Kathleen Sebelius credit — she survived the furnace

Discussion: Daily Kos

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Union threatens retribution for House Dems opposing Keystone — A top building trades union is launching a midterm-election assault on House Democrats who oppose construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. — A letter distributed Friday by the Laborers' International Union of North America …

Discussion: Power Line and Fox News

Sen. Orrin Hatch / The Hill:

Protect the Senate's important ‘advice and consent’ role — The Senate's constitutional role of “advice and consent” is an essential check on the president's constitutional power to appoint executive and judicial branch officials. The Senate is charged with advising the president …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Michael Kazin / The New Republic:

Stop the Revisionism: LBJ Was No Liberal Hero — From 1964 to 1968, close to 34,000 Americans died in South Vietnam. We will never know how many Vietnamese women, men, and children perished during those years, but the total, according to most estimates, was at least one million.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Washington Post and Washington Monthly

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Huckabee Slams Obama on Gay Marriage: Where Are His ‘Christian Convictions’? — Mike Huckabee recently defended his position on gay marriage by saying it's not homophobia to be on “the right side of the Bible.” Huckabee explained those remarks on The O'Reilly Factor Friday night …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Raw Story

Eric T. Fair / Washington Post:

The U.S. must open the book on the use of torture to move forward — Eric T. Fair served in the Army from 1995 to 2000 as an Arabic linguist and worked in Iraq as a contract interrogator in early 2004. His e-mail address is etfair89@gmail.com. — Seven years ago, I wrote an op-ed …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters:

BREAKING: ABC Apologizes for Story That Connected Mozilla CEO to Hateful Westboro Baptist — ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider has apologized for a story on his network that connected a CEO who supports traditional marriage to the Westboro Baptist Church and their offensive “God hates fags” signs.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Michael Riley / Bloomberg:

NSA Said to Exploit Heartbleed Bug for Intelligence for Years — The U.S. National Security Agency knew for at least two years about a flaw in the way that many websites send sensitive information, now dubbed the Heartbleed bug, and regularly used it to gather critical intelligence, two people familiar with the matter said.

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

There's A ‘Let Me Google That For You’ Bill — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) a new bill this week called the Let Me Google That For You Act of 2014 (seriously). — The bill is meant to cut down on “the collection and distribution of government information” …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Liberaland and Mediaite