Five for Friday

This week has been a bit relentless. Tons of work and not a lot of sleep on my end, at least. Same goes for the rest of the LSWTF.com crew. So, apologies. Without further ado, my Five for Friday.

First, if you're an woman attorney, I think the last thing you might want to hear at a deposition is, "Respectfully, I think he's just referring to the fact that he can see your breasts."

Next, if you're David Stern, you can't make this NBA ref game-fixing story go away fast enough. Apparently former NBA ref (and, as Stern points out, convicted felon) Tim Donaghy has some dirt on other refs fixing games, including a playoff game from 2002. Now other refs are getting accused. For once, in my opinion, the NBA actually has its atrocious refereeing going for it. As my good friend the Tenacious Mr. Lee put it, "I don't even know what a foul in the NBA is anymore." It's that bad. Now, I ask you this, how are you going to prove that a ref called a foul intentionally? How are you going to prove intent to rig a game, when there are dozens of borderline calls per game? I think the NBA gets away from anything really bad, like game-fixing, but has to fix its officiating system, or fans are going to walk away.

Third, keeping with the NBA theme, Game 4 last night featured the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history, and it has the C's within one game of their 17th championship. Honestly, I turned the game off after the first half. I hadn't slept well in days, was falling asleep, and badly needed a shower. My buddy, Tenacious Lee, called at the start of the fourth, asking if I could believe the comback. I had no idea what he was talking about. I officially suck, a lot.

Fourth, your semi-weekly dose of Krugman: it's about time we stopped living in our laissez faire dream world, and actually got to business making sure our food is safe. Reminder, don't eat any tomatoes for a while.

Fifth, and last, Boumediene v. Bush, yesterday's habeas corpus detainee case. Split 5-4, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Guantanamo detainees have the right to seek review of the legality of their detentions in federal court, striking down as unconstitutional parts of the Military Commissions Act and the Detainee Treatment Act. You can get the full opinion, with the dissents, here (via Scotusblog). I haven't had the chance to fully read this one, but needless to say, with the Court's focus on the Suspension Clause, this election year is going to be huge. Congress may well take another crack at creating legislation to suspend habeas for detainees. This case, along with the decision in The DC Handguns case, will set the tone for this election cycle.