SOME PIG: Channel 7 is reporting that W.P. Sooie has surved an animal control effort to evict her pot-bellied porker from her home as impermissible livestock. Brian Chilson

The line is open. Finishing up:

* WHO YOU CALLING ACTIVIST JUDGES?: Richard Posner in Slate takes down the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling eviscerating the Voting Rights Act, with its weird jurisprudence of gradual constitutionality and all. This is the money quote on the opinion:

Advertisement

“…decided Tuesday, struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act (the part requiring certain states with a history of racial discrimination in voting to obtain federal permission in advance to change their voting procedures—called “preclearance”) as violating the “fundamental principle of equal sovereignty” of the states. This is a principle of constitutional law of which I had never heard—for the excellent reason that, as Eric points out and I will elaborate upon briefly, there is no such principle.”

Posner is a Reagan-appointed U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge who’s not readily classifiable as liberal or conservative, though he’s generally viewed as more right than left.

SOME PIG: W.P. Sooie has surved an animal control effort to evict the pot-bellied porker from its home as impermissible livestock.

Advertisement
  • Brian Chilson
  • SOME PIG: W.P. Sooie has survived an animal control effort to evict the pot-bellied porker from its home as impermissible livestock.

* W.P. SOOIE SURVIVES EVICTION EFFORT: Remember W. P. Sooie, the pot-bellied pig that Little Rock Animal Control tried to evict from its home with Jyll Latham? David Koon wrote the swine chronicles and followed up here. District court trial was held today to determine whether W.P. was livestock and an impermissible home pet. David had a conflict. But TV stations were on hand for Judge Alice Lightle’s ruling that the pig could stay, despite a neighbor’s complaint of insufficient sanitation of the output of the 58-pound porker.

Lightle noted, according to Channel 11’s account, the same thing David’s story noted. There’s a conflict in city ordinances. One permits pot-belled pigs. Another seems to require a 300-foot separation between livestock and neighboring homes. For now, Woo Pig.

Advertisement

* LAW LICENSE DENIED: Because the case was in the news periodically, I note the Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision today to turn down an appeal of the the Board of Law Examiners’ decision not to grant a license to John Patrick Moody. The court agreed he hadn’t sufficiently demonstrated overcoming a history of alcohol abuse. He was convicted in a hit-and-run accident while drunk that killed bicyclist Jason Pratt in 2005. At the time of the Board hearing, he said he’d been sober for eight months and was actively participating in AA.

Arkansas Times: Your voice in the fight

Are you tired of watered-down news and biased reporting? The Arkansas Times has been fighting for truth and justice for 50 years. As an alternative newspaper in Little Rock, we are tough, determined, and unafraid to take on powerful forces. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, we are making a difference. But we can't do it without you. Join the 3,400 paid subscribers who support our great journalism and help us hire more writers. Sign up for a subscription today or make a donation of as little as $1 and help keep the Arkansas Times feisty for years to come.

Previous article New mission for St. Joseph’s: Organic farming Next article Wind energy manufacturer Nordex to end production in Jonesboro