The Citizen's Constitution- An Annotated Guide by Seth Lipsky

This book is a must for followers of the Court. Carefully put together by Mr. Lipsky the book is laid out Article by Article and Amendment by Amendment with the history and thinking behind each one.

I took this book out because I have always been confused by the thinking that went into Roe v. Wade. It has always been my opinion that a woman's right to privacy, hence the choice to have an abortion, was well founded under the Third and Ninth Amendments of the Constitution. The Court found that right in Article 14, one of the so called Reconstruction Amendments.

And of course, my all time favorite Amendment is the 27th, which was proposed in 1789 and not ratified until 1992. It's about 30 words long and delienates the Compensation for Senators and Members of Congress. I don't do politics here, but this is some Amendment!

In short, for a guy like me, who has copies of the Constitution in the car, on my scan stick, and even by my reading chair in the TV room, this book is an indispensable tool for deciphering the intent of some of our most basic and controversial laws. Coupled with "The Oxford Companion to The Supreme Court" this book will see you through the 6 o'clock news and beyond.

While You Were Sleeping...

While you were sleeping the other day, or shopping, the Supreme Court pulled the rug out from under the feet of 100's of convicted felons across America, suppressing their right to re-dress as guaranteed them in the Bill of Rights.

The courts disallowance of DNA and other related testing to convicted inmates in an effort to prove their freedom is inexplicable at best, and evil at it's worst.

What logic do they use to address this issue? Chief Justice Roberts,writing for the majority and despite the fact that 46 states already have laws that allow prisoners access to DNA evidence, stated, “To suddenly constitutionalize this would short-circuit what looks to be a prompt and considered legislative response.” Duh? If it were then you wouldn't be asked to intercede in the first place!

This is the case that decides the fate of William Osborne, convicted of kidnap and rape in Alaska in 1994. Not a nice guy, she was a prostitute, yada, yada, yada... If the guy is willing to pay for the additional tests, which by the way have freed several hundred wrongly convicted inmates, as well as identified scores of actual criminals, then why not allow it?

Justice Samuel Alito Jr.,along with Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy and Thomas, stated in their opinions that allowing the defendant to forgo testing at his trial and then request it from prison,“would allow prisoners to play games with the criminal justice system.”

Onh yeah, that's a great plan, I'll go to jail and THEN ask you let me out. In this case, as in all cases, there were legal nuances stemming from Mr. Osbornes' earlier conviction in a home invasion which played a part in the decision to forgo testing at the time of his trial on a later charge. There may have been an ulterior motive to escape further incrimination on some other charge.

Be that as it may,(and I am no bleeding heart liberal here- I never said this was a nice guy!)the fact remains that evidence may exist which will prove this prisoners innocence.

And quite simply put, No law should be above, or stand in the way of, the Truth.