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Insider Report: Scalia Set to Lead Conservative Supreme Court Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Scalia Set to Lead Conservative Supreme Court With centrist Justice Sandra Day O'Connor replaced by more conservative Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia is poised to emerge as a leader of a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Since his appointment to the high court in 1986, Scalia has often been in the position of writing dissenting opinions as the court failed to muster a conservative majority. But now Scalia's views may represent the majority as the court deals with key social issues, including religion in public life, abortion and affirmative action. Story Continues Below
"It is a prospect dreaded by liberals, and eagerly awaited by many on the right," reports Los Angeles Times staff writer David G. Savage. On Feb. 28, the court will hear a challenge to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which several plaintiffs have challenged as unconstitutional propaganda for religion. Scalia has already defended the teaching of creationism in public schools and voted in favor of allowing the government to promote religion in general. A Supreme Court affirmation of the Initiatives "could make it much harder for critics to legally challenge government programs that promote religion," Savage writes. In April, the court will hear a new challenge to a law banning corporation and union-funded broadcast ads for a federal candidate in the month or two before an election. On campaign finance in general, Scalia has argued that such laws violate the free-speech rights of contributors and candidates. The court will soon render a decision on an affirmative action case it heard in December. The case concerns a challenge to the use of racial integration guidelines in two school districts, and it gives the court's conservatives "a chance to broadly reject race-based policies," according to the Times. The court will also hear a challenge to a law banning a midterm abortion procedure. Scalia has repeatedly called for overturning Roe v. Wade. Scalia's main message is that much of what the Supreme Court has done in the last few decades constitutes an illegitimate power grab, Savage reports. He said in a recent speech: "I'm one who believe the Constitution should be interpreted exactly as it was adopted. It should be interpreted as it was written — nothing more, not less." Editor's Note: 2. James Ridgeway: Hillary the Hawk In a further sign that Hillary Clinton will have trouble courting the Democratic left in 2008, liberal journalist James Ridgeway has called the supposed front-runner "the Democrats' stealth war candidate." Ridgeway, a longtime Village Voice journalist who now heads Mother Jones magazine's Washington Bureau, quotes "a voice of reason," Bob Scheer's Truthdig blog: "Let's face it: No matter how much many of us who oppose the war in Iraq would also love to elect a female president, Hillary Clinton is not a peace candidate. "She is an unrepentant hawk, a la Joe Lieberman. She believed invading Iraq was a good idea, all available evidence to the contrary, and she has, once again, made it clear that she still does." Ridgeway writes in Mother Jones: "This election already is resembling 2004: Moneybags Hillary coming out of the Democratic Leadership Council, as the candidate of the middle class, i.e., status quo. Like Lieberman before her, Hillary is ranked against the so-called left. In 2004, the DLC gang saw Howard Dean as the commie slime." Ridgeway calls Barack Obama a "curiosity," but believes John Edwards could win the election for the Democrats. "He appears to have shaken off the deadly soccer mom image and is flirting with populist notions." As for Al Gore, "he could turn out to be the Hollywood candidate," according to Ridgeway. "If that's the case, Gore will have money to fight Hillary." Editor's Note: 3. Joe Pagliarulo Makes Top 100 Radio Hosts List Conservative talk show host Joe Pagliarulo is now a member of Talkers magazine's "Heavy Hundred" — the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America. Joe hosts a morning news/talk show on WOAI in San Antonio, and an evening show on KTRH in Houston. He has also served as a substitute host on Glenn Beck's radio program, and has appeared regularly on TV on the Fox News Channel. He stands at No. 95 on the Talkers list. Talkers culls its list from the roughly 5,000 talk show hosts across the country, and according to its Web site, evaluates them for "courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness." Joe told NewsMax: "This ads some always welcomed gravitas." Editor's Note: 4. Flashback: Bill Clinton Freed Cocaine Kingpin After movie mogul David Geffen recently attacked former friends Bill and Hillary Clinton, NewsMax.com reported that the bad blood dated back to President Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich in his last days in office. Geffen was angry that Clinton at the same time rebuffed his request for a pardon for Leonard Peltier, an American Indian activist Geffen believes was falsely convicted of two 1975 murders. NewsMax detailed several other controversial pardons among the 140 Clinton issued in his final days. But the outgoing president also created controversy by commuting the sentences of several convicted felons. Among them was Carlos Vignali, who was serving the 6th year of a 15-year sentence for organized cocaine trafficking. Vignali's father, Horacio Carlos Vignali, was a major political contributor to Democratic causes. What's more, Clinton's brother-in-law, attorney Hugh Rodham, received nearly $400,000 for successfully lobbying for Vignali's commutation and for the pardon of Almon Glenn Braswell, who was convicted of mail fraud and perjury. Rodham later returned the money, but invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Congressional hearing on Clinton's pardons. Clinton also commuted the sentences — over the objection of the FBI — of 11 members of a Puerto Rican nationalist group that set off more than 100 bombs in the U.S. The large Puerto Rican community in New York City supports Democrats. Editor's Note: 5. We Heard . . . That former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. won't be down and out after losing his bid for the U.S. Senate — he'll earn a handsome $3 million a year as vice chairman and senior policy adviser at Merrill Lynch & Co., according to the New York Post. Ford, first elected to the House from Tennessee at age 26 in 1996, lost the Senate race to Republican Bob Corker in November. He was recently elected chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, and his position at the Merrill Lynch financial services firm was announced on Feb. 14. THAT 35 Senators have sent a letter to President Bush urging him to reaffirm his pro-life policy. Free Congress Foundation Chairman Paul Weyrich praised the letter, noting that there is need for Bush to emphasize his stance on abortion now that Democrats have control of Congress. The letter to the president signed by the Republican Senators read in part: "We respectfully request that you issue a letter to the Senate and House Leadership, reaffirming your strong pro-life policy convictions and serving notice that you will veto any legislation that weakens present pro-life policy . . . "Issuance of such a letter now would be timely and of tremendous value in our effort to ensure that no life-related policy is weakened during the 100th Congress." Senators signing the letter include presidential candidates John McCain of Arizona and Sam Brownback of Kansas. THAT R. Emmett Terrell Jr., founder and editor of The American Spectator, has written a new book exposing the goings-on in Bill Clinton's life since he left the presidency. "The Clinton Crack-up: The Boy President's Life After the White House" is due out on March 20. According to Amazon.com, Tyrell "sheds new light on Bill Clinton's post-presidential emotional depression, globe trotting and international deal-making, financial ties to China and the United Arab Emirates, ongoing womanizing, vital support role in Hillary Clinton's . . . run for the White House, and possible role as America's first ‘First Man.'" So maybe Terrell was doing research when he crashed Clinton's 60th birthday bash in Toronto last September. Editor's Notes:
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