Benda-gate: state was screwed

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley is up to his areolae:

Jackley issued a general statement Friday that said, in part: “The fact that I did not violate state law or my ethical duties by revealing additional information does not mean, as has been suggested, that no investigation occurred or that state, local or federal prosecutors are not fulfilling their separate responsibilities. As an elected official my skin is thick, but the prosecutors and investigators in this case and the public deserve better reporting from reputable news sources,” Jackley said. [Bob Mercer, Pierre Capital Journal].

David Montgomery is reporting in the Sioux Fall(s) Argus Leader that the former governor who appointed Jackley and the dead Benda and is running for US Senate has a new challenger in the already-crowded earth hater field. I had to laugh like Hell.

The Rapid City Journal editorial board is on a tear about Marty Jackley's malfeasance as attorney general:

Moreover, Jackley is, quite literally, making up the rules as he goes. First, he refuses media inspection of a death investigation of an official involved in an FBI investigation, then agrees to allow a pool report of redacted documents, and now media access has been denied by allowing a family member to simply refuse to give written permission. [RCJ editorial board]

If Marty makes shit up on Benda-gate: what else is he making up?

Openly sectarian prayer prior to or during public meetings has come before the Supreme Court of the United States:

But first, the marshal will ask "God" to "save the United States and this honorable court." [Nina Totenberg, NPR]

The Rapid City Council has come under fire from civil rights groups for promoting religious superstition before meetings:

Attorney General Marty Jackley has given South Dakota's support to a legal defense of prayer at government meetings, an issue that is now confronting the Rapid City Council. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in May that it will hear a challenge to the widespread practice of opening federal, state and local government meetings with prayer. [Rapid City Journal staff]

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog:

If Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was serious that history might not be enough to justify prayers to open government meetings, the Supreme Court will have to set off on a deeply challenging search for a different way to judge such religious utterances. But if Justice Elena Kagan is right that, whatever the Court might do, it could make the cultural problem worse, then history may in the end turn out to be the only test to apply.

A discussion of the case is took place on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show.

Republicans like @Charliebh don't want Benda-gate investigated http://t.co/FQlyypCDKe … via @AberdeenNews #sdleg #sdsen
— interested party (@larry_kurtz) December 15, 2013