Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/340913
WASHINGTON Even when Supreme Court decisions are unan- imous, the justices can be fiercely di- vided about funda- mental matters, as was demonstrated by two 9-0 rulings last week. One overturned a Massachusetts law restricting speech near abortion clinics. The other invalidated recess appointments that President Obama made when the Senate said it was not in recess. In the first, four justices who concurred in the result rejected the majority's reason- ing because it minimized the law's constitutional offense. In the second, four justices who concurred with the court's judgment that Obama had ex- ceeded his powers argued that the majority's reasoning val- idated the Senate's long com- plicity in practices that aug- ment presidential power by di- minishing the Senate's power to advise and consent to presi- dential nominations. A provision of Massachu- setts' law stipulated 35-foot zones around abortion clin- ics, from which spaces peo- ple wanting to engage in side- walk counseling — urging women to forgo abortions — would be excluded. Another provision that makes it a crim- inal offense if someone "know- ingly obstructs, detains, hin- ders, impedes or blocks" per- sons approaching abortion clinics raises no First Amend- ment problems. The challenged provision, however, proscribes persua- sion in a public place, speech which unwilling listeners can walk away from. The court unanimously held that the state may not pro- tect persons seeking abortions from peaceful attempts to change their minds. But Chief Justice John Roberts, practic- ing judicial minimalism, ar- gued only that the Massachu- setts law was unnecessarily broad for protecting public or- der. Roberts wrote that the buffer zone — a euphemism for a no-speech zone — is "content neutral" because it does not discriminate against a partic- ular point of view. This nonsense may have been necessary for preserv- ing unanimity with the more liberal justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, So- nia Sotomayor and Elena Ka- gan. Justice Antonin Scalia, how- ever, in a concurrence that was 95 percent dissent, called Massachusetts' law "uncon- stitutional root and branch" because, far from being con- tent neutral, it pertains only to abortion clinics, it pre- dictably will restrict only persons speaking against what the clinics do, and it restricts them in places — public sidewalks — where free speech is protected. Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas joined Scalia's concurrence and Justice Samuel A Washington state busi- ness, having received an ad- verse ruling from the National Labor Relations Board, argued that the board had an illegit- imate quorum. Obama had made recess appointments to the board when the Sen- ate was holding (as it has done with the consent of both par- ties) pro forma meetings — and conducting some business — every three days to establish that it was not in recess. Obama, with his character- istic constitutional crudeness, is the first president to assert that he can declare the Senate in recess during three-day ses- sions, which the Constitution stipulates is the maximum time the Senate can adjourn without the House's consent. The Recess Appointments Clause says: "The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Sen- ate." Note the words "happen" and "the" — the definite ar- ticle — before "recess." Nev- ertheless, for much of the na- tion's life, presidents have been making, without strenuous Senate objections, intra-session as well as inter-session recess appointments to fill vacancies that did not occur during the recess. The court did not quite rule that tradition validates depar- tures from the Constitution's text. But neither did it say, as it should have, that even long- standing practices should end when they are deemed to con- flict with an unambiguous text. Instead, Breyer practiced a perverse form of judicial restraint, decreeing that a recess of less than 10 days is "presumptively" too short for recess appointments. In another dissent-as-con- currence, Scalia, joined by Roberts, Thomas and Alito, noted that Breyer's presump- tion leaves presidents with much more latitude than the Constitution's text stip- ulates. Unanimity is not only spu- rious, it is injurious when purchased at the price of compromises that suggest disingenuousness. George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost. com. George Will Curseof judicial minimalism Thanksforthebest25 years Editor: I had no idea what was in store for me when I moved to Red Bluff with my four small children and I have to say that these have been the best 25 years of my life. I didn't know one person when I came here from South- ern California. It's a very long and great story, that I would gladly share with anyone, how and why I came here, but what I can say briefly is that I was living a life of crime and drug addiction and through a cou- ple of true miracles, God trans- planted me here and, shortly af- ter arriving, clearly pointed to the exact church here where I could, once and for all, be freed from my drug addiction. I have been given a new and exciting life here, my children have experienced one of the greatest communities to grow up in and I love Red Bluff. I am honored to live and serve the community here. Thank you Red Bluff for 25 wonderful years. And thank you to all of the people who made the restoration of the State The- atre possible. That shows that people love, care for and value our city. Thank you, it is beau- tiful. — Kim Berry, Red Bluff Jefferson State nightmare Editor: The Tehama County Board of Supervisors put an item on the ballot in order to sign a docu- ment defining the legal bound- aries of our county in order to give our county to the Jeffer- son Declaration Committee — whatever or whoever that is. Most of the people who voted for and against the proposi- tion had no idea what it means, and those who did not vote defi- nitely had no idea. The state you belong to de- fines your property rights. It de- cides whether you actually own your own property. It decides if you are paid $9 an hour or less than $3 an hour. It determines whether some areas have no schools, roads, no health facili- ties, unbearable taxes, no police and courts, etc. It decides who pays taxes, and how much. There are counties like Te- hama County in some states that have an average income of $10,000 per year, or less, such as in Texas with all of its oil wealth. Tehama County's average in- come is around $26,000, sort of poor, but not abject pov- erty since the state of Califor- nia heavily subsidizes Tehama County and pays for more than 2,000 middle class jobs, unem- ployment insurance. Medi-Cal, Cal Fire, roads and highways, etc. Take away California's sub- sidies for those jobs, and re- duce the minimum wage and Tehama County will begin the slide towards those terribly im- poverished counties in other states. The people who support a new state wave flags about freedom and power but it is hard to feed, educate your families on words. Especially words which will mean noth- ing in a new state sponsored by wealthy individuals, who care nothing about you or they would not be doing this. Now many people say, "There will never be a State of Jefferson, so it doesn't mean anything." Are we certain? Are there unknown legal is- sues in giving away our county to some entity called the Jef- ferson Declaration Committee? Two other counties decided it was dangerous and voted the exact opposite to our county. In one county, the decision came too late. Their Supervisors had already given it away. When it turns out to be a di- saster, can the Board of Su- pervisors rescind giving our county away? The few of us who heard the proposal begged the Board of Supervisors to hold hear- ings about it, but they were in- timidated, or bought off, and immediately put a vaguely worded proposition on the bal- lot that had nothing to do with what they planned to do. Ev- erybody wants more power which was what the proposal suggested, but the issue has nothing to do with our power but everything about some un- known group getting control of our county. — Francis Leach, Red Bluff Tax the rich to solve monetary woes Editor: Our nation's problems seem insurmountable but their solu- tions are actually quite simple. The real problem is those with the know-how to implement those solutions have no power to do so. And those in power are financially motivated to avoid real solutions like the plague. The cause of our monetary woes isn't poor folks on wel- fare, it's rich folks hoarding and the Federal Reserve. Get rid of the Federal Re- serve and tax the crap out of the rich corporations and bil- lionaires, or at least stop sub- sidizing them. Then we could put the unemployed to work fixing our infrastructure like FDR did and make lack of in- telligence the only hindrance to a college education. Social Security can be well preserved that way too. Governments have always redistributed wealth, it is about time ours redistributed it the right way. Guns and drugs aren't the main cause of crime, inequal- ity, desperation and violent people are. Fixing the inequal- ity would go a long way in low- ering crime statistics. More and more veterans need help these days and the way war is perpetuated this problem can only grow worse. — Orval Strong, Gerber Your opinions Cartoonist's take Where were you on April 8, 1974? I was in the upstairs bedroom I shared with younger brother Dwight, listening to the radio as Hank Aaron broke the career home run record set by George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. some four decades earlier. Aaron's milestone did nothing to diminish the legacy of Ruth and even enhanced his name awareness. As we approach July 11 (the 100th anniversary of Ruth's Major League Baseball debut, with the Boston Red Sox), he still stands tall. Even for people who don't care for baseball in particu- lar or sports in general, Ruth's name and image loom large. He's one of those default values you fall back on when asked for a quick answer: name a famous rock band (the Beatles), name a famous baseball player (Babe Ruth), name a famous non-Dick- ensian pauper (Hillary Clinton)... You probably know Ruth's af- fectionate nicknames, "the Bam- bino" and "the Sultan of Swat." You may have also heard him re- ferred to as the Great Emancipa- tor, the Father of Medicine and the Sun King — but unfortu- nately, the people who told you those names have tenure and can't be fired. Ruth was one of several larger- than-life celebrities (think Will Rogers, Harry Houdini, Charles Lindbergh, Rudloph Valentino) who made the Roaring Twenties such a fascinating decade. Ruth could probably have par- layed his charisma into a presi- dential run. Of course the very act of seeming presidential on the campaign trail would have under- cut his claim to fame. ("Baseball? I had never heard of this game called baseball before this morn- ing. But I assure you I will assign my best people to get to the bot- tom of this...") The average American no lon- ger debates the policies of Pres- ident Herbert Hoover, but they still talk about Ruth's alleged "called home run" for the New York Yankees from the 1932 World Series. In those simpler times, Ruth could gesture toward center field with impunity. Now- adays there would be cries of "He made a vaguely gun-like gesture with his hand. Oooo, if only he were a child — we could put him under the jail!" Ruth was inspirational, over- coming 12 years in a reformatory to become a world celebrity. He gave motivational speeches at or- phanages and aided the war ef- fort. Ruth piled up his statistics without the benefit of steroids. Although, truth be told, if some- one had slapped lipstick and ny- lons on steroids, things might have turned out differently. Babe Ruth is ranked as the greatest baseball player of all time in various surveys, but a fi- nal ranking would require an unbiased, painstaking analysis of the data — taking into consid- eration any rules changes since the Ruth era, the effect of segre- gation on MLB and most impor- tantly whether anyone can dig up a newspaper quote of Ruth disparaging Judy Garland or Broadway musicals. Ruth's memory lives on, of course, via the baseball league that bears his name and teaches perseverance, teamwork and fair play to American youths. And we still have the Baby Ruth candy bar, although the Curtis Candy Company always insisted that it was named for Grover Cleve- land's daughter instead of the baseball player. Such protests sound insincere when a special investigation re- vealed tentative plans for other confections named Thai Candy Corn Cobb, Sticky Mantle and Blue Gehrig. "Today today today I consider myself the most sugar-hyped kid kid kid on the face of the earth earth earth." Danny Tyree welcomes reader e-mail responses at tyreetyrades@aol.com and vis- its to his Facebook fan page Tyree's Tyrades. Danny Tyree Remembering Babe Ruth on his MLB centennial GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@red bluffdailynews.com Phone: 530-527- 2151ext. 112 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS George Will OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, July 3, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A4