A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

WE INTERRUPT OUR NORMAL PROGRAMMING TO BRING YOU THIS UPDATE: From Bashman comes the sad news that a person you've probably never heard of (unless you're as a big an Establishment Clause geek as I am) has passed away--Sidney Schempp. Schempp has one and only one claim to fame--she was the plaintiff in Abington School District v. Schempp, the 1963 Supreme Court case that struck down mandatory bible reading in schools. Sadly, her name isn't as well-known as other plaintiffs who made their way to the court, like Ernesto Miranda, Clarence Earl Gideon, and Linda Brown, but the case contains one of my favorite judicial opinions of all time--Justice Brennan's concurrence. Scroll down in that report, and read it--it's longer than the majority opinion, but it's passionate, scholarly, and well-reasoned--everything that a judicial opinion should be. You can almost feel Justice Brennan's struggle between the principles of law and his own committed Catholicism leap off the page. It's the kind of writing I wish we had more of today on our federal bench. Return to snarkiness will follow later this afternoon.