As a former Governor who appointed many judges to the Vermont bench, I value the quality of judicial temperament. Scalia?s intemperate dissent in this case shows why he should never have been appointed to the Supreme Court in the first place and why he is not fit to serve as Chief Justice should a vacancy occur. His increasingly shrill opinions have become an embarrassment to the Supreme Court.

President Bush says we need more Justices like Scalia. I say we cannot afford more Justices like Scalia, and we cannot afford four more years of the President who would appoint such Justices. ?

Another reason to be happy about this decision: Scalia really did go off his rocker. That will, I hope, provide further ammunition to block his appointment as Chief Justice.

Ok, maybe I'm just dreaming. But it's a good day for it.

Rally in San Francisco at 5 p.m. on the day of the decision at Harvey Milk Plaza at the corner of Castro and Market St.
(Local organizer contacts: Tommi Avicolli Mecca and Will Doherty, 415-552-6031)

Someone just please save me a parking spot near my apartment for when I get home from work today....

Unwanted knowledge coming from reading bookslut:

Having another book just wasn't bad enough. Ann Coulter now has a blog.

This Ann Coulter cannot do.

Great gloss of the dissenters at The Antic Muse. Short excerpt:

I mean, if anyone on has "taken sides in the culture war," it's Scalia, Thomas and Rehinquist, as evinced by the reasons Scalia gives for upholding sodomy laws. They have nothing to do with sodomy. They have everything to do with simply being gay, and that is -- at heart -- what he's objecting to

"This reasoning leaves on shaky, pretty shaky grounds, state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples," Scalia wrote.

Just in time for gay pride! Who says they don't have a sense of timing?

Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Law Banning Sodomy. The Supreme Court's ruling that a Texas ban on gay sex violated privacy was among a series of decisions today. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Politics]

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It happens to be a great conversation starter. For the past few days, I've been stopping for dinner at Capri Pizza on Market in the Castro, as it's essentially about 10 feet from the entrance to my apartment. I've been reading Harry Potter there, and there are usually 3 or 4 people who stop by to say that they are reading it, and, more emphatically, that they know someone who's already finished it. Since I've just been reading it at the restaurant, I'm only on page 50 or so.

Having gone through my PhD orals, I feel, stupidly, as if I should protest: I used to read a book this size every day! (And then I'm very relieved that I had have somehow maintained at least the small degree of self-control that it takes to refrain from making such pointless boasts.)

So it seems now that Rowling is writing longer books, she's ushered in an unspoken contest to be the first person in your circle of friends and acquaintances to finish the book, or, at the very least, to know someone who has.

Update: Frogs and Ravens to the rescue! to the rescue! Now at least I can say I know someone who's finished reading the book...twice! (See the comments for the post.) Take that, waiters and patrons of Capri Pizza!