Jan Crawford Greenburg of the Chicago Tribune raises the specter today that political expediency might steer the Bush White House away from nominating an avowedly outspoken anti-Roe candidate for the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Nomination Blog speculates on the significance of reported statements that the President's people have dropped strong conservative Judge Edith Jones from the list. I don't think there's too much to read into this solitary report - unless you are starved for news on the subject amid the raging silence of recent days. First, Jones wasn't very high on many experts' A-lists as a potential replacement (even though Main Street USA reveled in her potential role as "the nuclear nominee"). Michael Luttig, Sam Alito, … [Read more...]

The homosexual advocacy group Equality Forum is organizing a celebration event at Philadelphia's Independence Hall on the 4th of July that will include commemorations of "gay icons in U.S. history," a recent news report says. Among the "outed" figures? You guessed it... Abraham Lincoln. "[Former N.J.] Governor [James] McGreavey showed mainstream Americans that homophobia has kept those who seek elected office in the closet," said Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum. "These public officials include Abraham Lincoln, who saved the nation, emancipated slaves and founded the modern Republican Party." Lazin said he has read The Intimate Life of Abraham Lincoln. "As a gay man and an amateur American historian, I find the … [Read more...]

Hugh Hewitt has dangled another Vox Blogoli before us, and I couldn't resist the temptation for this one... "Does the Senate GOP Go McClellan or Go Grant if Harry Reid 'Goes Gingrich?'" According to the New York Times, Senate Minority Leader Reid has threatened to shut down the business of the Senate if Bill Frist and the Republicans remove the filibuster rule for judicial confirmations. While awake to the danger of carrying the US Civil War-era historical analogy too far, I decided to address Hugh's question creatively and analytically. I write as someone who grew up a Civil War buff - voraciously devouring all sorts of literature on the subject by the time I entered college - and later made the transformation to junior Civil War … [Read more...]

Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young tries to turn the tables on those attacking Ward Churchill by pouring some light on the scholarship of historian Thomas Woods, Jr., author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History" and co-founder of the pro-secession League of the South. (Hat tip: Real Clear Politics) UNC law professor Eric Muller has been on the case of Woods already at length. Both Muller and Young have raked Woods over the coals, as his controversial book climbs the bestseller charts. It looks to me as if we may have a new punching bag for the Left. To what extent does the history professor deserve such excoriation? Muller and Young say Woods has received highly insufficient critique from the political and … [Read more...]