The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional this morning, relying on arguments used by Supreme Court Justice Kennedy in another case. This furthers a process that will almost certainly end in the Supreme Court, with a precedent-setting ruling on the right of same-sex couples to marry. However, the ruling today is limited to the circumstances of the California initiative.

Can I have a nice lecture from Senator Murray on how it’s my duty as a citizen to vote for one or the other of the corrupt jerks they put in my face?

SCOTUS has just ruled unanimously that John Ashcroft can’t be sued by Abdullah al-Kidd for using a material witness warrant to incarcerate him. The eight justices (Elena Kagan recused herself) all agree there was no law explicitly prohibiting this kind of abuse of material witness warrants, so Ashcroft has immunity from suit.

Surprising no one, the Supreme Court left intact (without comment) the ban on open service in our military by gays and lesbians while the Appeals Court determines its constitutionality.

I have no idea what Kagan thinks about this raid. But even during the argument, she sustained a fiction that the Court’s interpretation of material support to include peace efforts would be an unlikely use of prosecutorial discretion.

There’s no question that Judge Walker, like any other judge, I’d imagine, likes his rulings to hold up on appeal. That’s why he did two very specific things with the Prop 8 ruling. He established a rigorous fact pattern, because the appellate courts will have to deal with those facts in their opinions. And, he basically tailored his ruling with respect to precedent on cases decided by the one man who will determine whether his ruling will stand.

Hamdan attorney and now Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal says that the issue is not Arar’s torture, but narrow questions of whether Arar can even ask for some relief in the US Courts.