VoteKansas.org

How about a tax code that doesn't discriminate against individual health policies?

What Sergei Magnitsky's brutal death tells us about the Kremlin's leadership.

'I would not argue that this statute is a perfect model of clarity.'

Some conservatives risk falling into Obama's tax and deficit trap.

PENNSYLVANIA

HARRISBURG — An organization that includes atheists and agnostics is suing over a Pennsylvania House resolution that declares 2012 the "Year of the Bible," saying the measure violates the U.S. Constitution.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the measure's main sponsor, the House clerk and the House parliamentarian Monday ...

Julian Zelizer says candidates are focusing on superficial aspects of U.S. economic woes while neglecting the deeper issues

David Frum says technology could provide a convenient national ID card that could end the controversy over voter identity

In "The Crisis of Zionism," a former editor of the staunchly pro-Israel New Republic now urges sanctions to force the country to change its West Bank policy.

TIOGA, N.D. — Along the wide-open expanses and rolling prairie of western North Dakota surrounding the state's booming oil patch, all sorts of bizarre litter can be found clogging the once-picturesque roadside: derelict hard hats, single boots, buckets, pallets, pieces of machinery, shredded semi tires, oily clothing, cigarette butts.

The ...

A New York Times columnist invades a troubled woman's privacy.

Aaron Carroll says the controversial mandate to have health insurance is helpful but not a vital part of health care reform

Ilya Somin says if the Supreme Court upholds health reform, it would give Congress nearly unlimited power

The Supreme court debates the legality of Obama's health care mandate, CNN's Jeffery Toobin and Kate Bouldan report.

One month after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, nearly three out of four Americans say the police should arrest the neighborhood watch volunteer who pulled the trigger, according to a new national survey.

Four issues will be addressed by the Supreme Court during six hours of oral arguments Monday through Wednesday.

By Paul A. Gigot The possibilities of Paul Ryan as Vice President.

President Barack Obama on Monday emphasized his vision for a nuclear-free world and warned that North Korea and Iran should shun nuclear weapons or face tough action from the international community.

Cert. granted today in Florida v. Harris, 11-817.

Issue: Whether an alert by a well-trained narcotics detection dog certified to detect illegal contraband is insufficient to establish probable cause for the search of a vehicle.

Opinion below: Harris v. State, 71 So. 3d 756 (Fla. 2011) posted here.

Briefs: Cert petition; brief in opposition.

This case will be argued next Term. Read the Florida Supreme Court's decision, the petition, and the BIO before you pass judgment on the oversimplistic issue the state chose to present. The case isn't that easy, unless, of course, the conservative wing has no problem with just saying "this is Place and Caballes and we're done." If it really was, they should have GVR'd it and been done with it.

SAN FRANCISCO — A 35-year-old man was booked on five counts of murder after the bodies of three women and two men were found at a gruesome crime scene in a San Francisco home.

The aftermath of the killings was so tangled that police couldn't initially determine whether they were dealing with ...

A face-to-face meeting better the affiant for a search warrant and the issuing magistrate is not required. Here, they recognized each other’s voices, the affiant swore over the phone and faxed the affidavit to the magistrate who faxed back the signed search warrant. Clay v. State, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2298 (Tex. App. – Waco March 21, 2012):

The second statement relied upon by Clay is a comment by the Court that, while recognizing innovations such as telephonic search warrants should not be foreclosed by the requirement of a signed affidavit, "[w]e leave those potential future changes to the Texas Legislature...." Smith v. State, 207 S.W.3d 787, 793 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). This statement, Clay believes, is an acknowledgment that a procedure to obtain warrants by telephone and facsimile has not been authorized by statute, does not exist under Texas law, and therefore cannot be a valid practice in Texas at the present time. We believe it is not such an acknowledgement and certainly is not such a prohibition. As the Court stated, it is important for the law to retain some flexibility in the face of technological advances. Id. at 792. Had there been no flexibility in the statute, the Smith Court would have been compelled to hold that a signed affidavit was required. It did not. And thus, the statute is also flexible so as to allow for the taking of an oath over the telephone or by some other electronic means of communication under certain circumstances. That is the nature of the development of the common law. We must decide only the issue presented—in this case, is the affidavit invalid because it was not made on an oath administered face-to-face.