Regardless of whether or not the “privileges and immunities” argument got shut down yesterday, Mr. Alan Gura earned himself a slot in the rotating, random quotes at this webpage with this gem:
Justice Sotomayor, States may have grown accustomed to violating the rights of American citizens, but that does not bootstrap those violations into something that is constitutional.
Anyone who has the spine to say that kind of thing to a Supreme Court Justice deserves all the recognition he can get, especially when he is educating her on such a simple concept.
However, apart from crafting up a few disturbing mental images, Laurel wins the internet for her simply outstanding (if somewhat irreverant) parody of the events of yesterday. She wraps it up with a more… polite… take on the situation surrounding “privileges and immunities” than I could probably muster:
To be perfectly honest, I lost a little bit of Scalia love today. I can’t get behind the idea that, if something’s bad, just because it’s been bad for 140 years we should perpetuate it.
… but, believe me you will want to read the whole thing.
Say Uncle has a comprehensive round-up of the relevant posts, as he is wont to do, and most are worth your time. Not so sure about that second link, though…
i’m lovin’ it | do it yourself | piss off |
[...] “Justice Sotomayor, States may have grown accustomed to violating the rights of American citizens, but that does not bootstrap those violations into something that is constitutional.” – Alan Gura today in arguments before the Supreme Court [...]
I don’t think Sotamayor opened her mouth again after that did she?
(Un)Surprisingly, she actually went on to lecture Mr. Feldman on which rights are “fundamental enough to be incorporated” and which are not. Go figure.