Those Darned Supremes.

Back when I was working as a law clerk for a federal judge, part of my job was to open court with the words "Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, holding a regular session in Beaumont Texas, is now open according to law. God save this court and these United States."

Tradition requires that one bow one's head while saying that last line. Because it's a prayer. The Supreme Court of the United States opened court this morning with a similar prayer, and then held (in a split decision) that the Constitution prohibits the display of the Ten Commandments in the courtroom. Something about an impermissible endorsement of religion or something.

Yet another reason to avoid Galveston.

As if crummy beaches and murky water weren't enough, the Galveston cops have adopted a "zero intelligence" policy when it comes to the most insignificant of traffic violations. For instance, hauling people off to jail for things as trivial as an expired registration or inspection sticker. Seriously.

A few years back, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Atwater v. City of Lago Vista that it was just fine to haul folks off to jail for seat belt violation, even though the maximum penalty if actually convicted of the offense was only a fine. As a matter of Constitutional Law, they may have been right. As a matter of common sense, it's ridiculous.

Instead of giving us another round of "tort reform," I wish that next time around the Texas legislature would write a law that says the cops can't take you to jail for offenses that don't include jail time as one of the allowed penalties. You'd think that the cops (and those who give them their marching orders) would have enough sense that such a law wouldn't be required. But it seems that they're intent on behaving like pea-brained jack-booted thugs. Too bad they can't be trusted even to write minor traffic tickets without legislative oversight.