THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† They May Be Supreme, But They Are Not Infallible: Prosecutors in LA have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its June 25th decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 07-343 to strike down laws in their state and in GA, MT, OK, SC and TX that allow the death penalty to be imposed in child rape cases, reports The Associated Press:
The Court almost never grants such requests, but lawyers for Louisiana said their situation was different because the 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy relied in part on what Kennedy called a “national consensus” against executing convicted rapists.
Five of the nine justices have to agree to reconsider the ruling.
† Al Sharpton: Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?: After Al Sharpton forked over a $1 million “downpayment” on a muti-million dollar tax debt, federal prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges against the “civil rights leader,” reports The Associated Press:
More payments will follow as Sharpton clears up a decade's worth of delinquent tax bills related to his personal business interests and his Harlem civil rights group….
The IRS and New York state and city tax agencies claim that Sharpton and his organization, the National Action Network, collectively owe millions of dollars in back taxes and penalties. …
The investigation was the latest in a string of government inquiries into Sharpton's finances, dating to his earliest days as a civil rights figure.
Each time, he has emerged unscathed. In the late 1980s, he was acquitted of stealing from a nonprofit group. A state case accusing him of evading income taxes also fizzled; he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a tax return and paid a small fine.
† Illegal Immigrants Swamping Small Town America: Having made his name as the first elected official to take on illegal immigration at the local level, Hazleton (PA) Mayor Lou Barletta now has his sights set on Congress, and is trying to unseat 12-term Dem Rep. Paul Kanjorski. The Republican Barletta has campaigned with Geno's Steaks owner Joey Vento, who famously posted a sign in the window of his owner of Philadelphia cheese steak restaurant asking customers to speak English, in the blue-collar, strongly Dem NE PA district, reports The Associated Press. Two years ago, the Hazleton City Council approved the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which denied business permits to companies that hire illegal immigrants and fine landlords who rent to them, but a federal judge struck down the ordinance as unconstitutional. Not one to give up easily, Barletta is now asking city businesses vet employees with Legal Employer Inc., which will check immigration status using a federal database. But his constituents and would-be voters may have thrown in the towel. Carol Cauley, 66, tells AP she “loves” Barletta but that “most people have come to the conclusion that our demographics have changed and that's a fact of life.”
Editorial Note: Lou Barletta has been named Mayor of the Year by the PA State Mayors Association for his efforts to combat illegal immigration and his “hands-on method of combating crime,” reports The Associated Press.
† What Al Gore Hath Wrought (second item): This November, at least 11 states will replace touch-screen voting equipment with optical scanners that will read paper ballots, and poll workers are bracing themselves for millions of new voters. Voting monitors are already predicting “long lines, stressed-out poll workers and late tallies on Election Day,” reports The New York Times:
About half of all voters will use machines unlike the ones they used in the last presidential election, experts say, and more than half of the states will use new statewide databases to verify voter registration.
With Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy expected to attract many people who have never encountered a voting machine, voting experts and election officials say they are worried that the system may buckle under the increased strain.
“I’m concerned about the weak spots,” said Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the United States Election Assistance Commission, which oversees voting. “So much depends on whether there will be enough poll workers, whether they are trained enough and whether their state and county election directors give them contingency plans and resources to handle the unexpected.”
State and local election officials are trying to lessen the impact of not having enough paper ballots or poll workers on hand on Election Day - the EAC estimates that some two million poll workers will be needed, twice the number for the 2004 presidential election – are encouraging people to vote early. Meanwhile, voting rights activists are weighing in on ballot designs that will be used in FL, MO, OH and PA, and launching public education campaigns urging people to check that their names are on voter registration lists two weeks before the election.
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