Hollingsworth v. Perry: Oral Argument Audio
Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry which will determine the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8. Here is a link to Oyez, which provides the full audio of the oral arguments synced with a searchable transcript. For wall-to-wall coverage and commentary on the case, check out the SCOUTSblog.
More on Gideon: An “Unfunded Mandate”?
Fifty years later, the American legal profession has failed to answer “Gideon’s trumpet,” or so says Stephen Bright, visiting Yale Law professor and president of Southern Center for Human Rights. According to Bright, Gideon v. Wainwright represents essentially an unfunded mandate.
Following Attorney General Eric Holder’s statements that the nation’s public defense is “in a state of crisis,” NPR’s Talk of the Nation explored the state of the public defense system with Bright as well as Douglas Wilson, Colorado State public defender.
This discussion runs 30:16 minutes.
Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the seminal decision as was discussed in yesterday’s blog post: Gideon Turns 50.
Fifty years ago today, the Supreme Court handed down the seminal decision of Gideon v. Wainwright. In Gideon, the Court unanimously held that all indigent defendants charged with a felonies are guaranteed appointed counsel. This CBS Sunday Morning story provides background on the historic decision. It runs 2:35 minutes.
Portman (R-OH) Becomes First GOP Senator to Support Same-Sex Marriage
Conservative Republican Rob Portman recently announced his support of same-sex marriage. His announcement came on the heels of his son informing his family that he is gay, “it is not a choice,” and that “he’d been that way ever since he could remember.”
This clip from ABC News runs just over two minutes.
On the Philosophy Bites podcast, philosopher Jeff McMahan discusses the morality of gun control with David Edmonds (19:07). Essentially, the premise of the podcast is whether the Second Amendment would be established if we were starting a society from scratch. Although McMahan argues in favor of gun control, at times I found his discussion so academic that it seemed like it was more of an argument against philosophy. However, the podcast is worth listening to since it is an interesting take on the gun control debate because it questions the very soundness of the Second Amendment.