Morning Docket: 12.12.06
* A unanimous Supreme Court overturns a Ninth Circuit ruling in a criminal (habeas) case. In other news, this morning the sun rose from the east. [New York Times; Washington Post]
* Enron’s Jeff Skilling may get to pass “Go” on his way to jail after all. [WSJ Law Blog]
* BCS vs. the Electoral College: Is the controversy over Florida or Michigan playing Ohio State the college football version of Bush v. Gore? Or perhaps that was the LSU/USC split of 2003-04? [National Journal via MSNBC]
* “Float driver in S.C. Christmas parade charged with drunken driving.” [AP]
* Christmas trees are back up in the Sea-Tac airport. Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky has said he won’t file a lawsuit. But if somebody else does, the Seattle airport authorities will have to throw in a menorah, a Kikombe cha Umoja, and a snowman. [Seattle Times]
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The ninth circuit title is funny.
One of their judges was at our school yesterday strenuously objecting to their reputation for being overturned: "It's misleading! Look at the numbers on a percentage basis! We're mainstream!"
Dear David. perhaps you can help me on this one. I believe that the USC has ruled that a Christmas Tree is not a religious symbol. However, I am uncertain whether they have similarly ruled with respect to the Menorah. If not, it seems to me that it is clearly a religious symbol as it is indicative of a PURELY religious holiday, that being Chanukkah. However, a Christmas tree is indicative of a traditional American holiday and has NO religious significance in the Christian faith as its origins are from the Roman pagans (or so the History Channel tells me). To me, displaying a Christmas Tree is not that much different than displaying Halloween decorations as both have pagan religious origins. To me, the only symbol on par with the Menorha is the Creche which I KNOW the USC has ruled is a religious symbol. Can you advise whether the USC has ruled the Menorah to be a religious symbol and, if not, why in the hell not? It appears that somehow the Menorah has become equated with the Christmas Tree as both being symbolic of the religious nature of the holiday season when, in fact, the Menorah's counterpart in the Christian faith should be the Creche. Best regards,