Defending Criticism of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum: At Bench Memos, Ed Whalen and Matthew Franck defend the Supreme Court's decision in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum against Alan Wolfe's attack at the New Republic blog. Whalen's post can be found here, and Franck's is here. Both men agree with the Supreme Court's holding that the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause did not give a private
group a right to place a permanent monument to the Seven Aphorisms in a city park even though
other donated monuments were previously erected. Both men also rejected Wolfe's argument that the Supreme Court made up a "law out of whole cloth..." According to Whalen, Wolfe "finds deeply offensive the whole notion of a government's freedom to express its views[,]" despite the fact that the government speech doctrine allows the government to express its views without being subject to First Amendment scrutiny.
Life Without Parole in Juvenile Cases: Thanks to Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy for directing us to Michelle Durand's article in the San Mateo Daily Journal discussing California Senator Leland Yee's proposed Bill 399. Yee's proposed bill would "tweak" California's current law so those convicted under age 18 could have their terms reviewed after 10 years for possible re-sentencing. Bill 399 follows Senator Yee's Bill 999 proposal to California's Penal Code to prohibit a juvenile who commits a crime from being sentenced to more than 25 years to life in prison. California's Proposition 21 requires that juvenile charged with murder and special circumstances must be tried, and therefore sentenced, as an adult.
Justice Stevens Speaks at Newseum: Tony Mauro posts about Justice Stevens appearance last night at the Newseum. Mauro reports that Justice Stevens appeared to moderate a discussion on the decision Marbury v. Madison with panelists Clifford Sloan, and David McKean, the authors of a new book called The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court. Sloan is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and David McKean, staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Justice Stevens role as moderator did not provide much insight into his views on Marbury, but Mauro reports, Justice Stevens did state that analyzing Marbury "for six week or seven weeks" during his first year at Northwestern Law School "'was the beginning of my legal career."'
Life Without Parole in Juvenile Cases: Thanks to Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy for directing us to Michelle Durand's article in the San Mateo Daily Journal discussing California Senator Leland Yee's proposed Bill 399. Yee's proposed bill would "tweak" California's current law so those convicted under age 18 could have their terms reviewed after 10 years for possible re-sentencing. Bill 399 follows Senator Yee's Bill 999 proposal to California's Penal Code to prohibit a juvenile who commits a crime from being sentenced to more than 25 years to life in prison. California's Proposition 21 requires that juvenile charged with murder and special circumstances must be tried, and therefore sentenced, as an adult.
Justice Stevens Speaks at Newseum: Tony Mauro posts about Justice Stevens appearance last night at the Newseum. Mauro reports that Justice Stevens appeared to moderate a discussion on the decision Marbury v. Madison with panelists Clifford Sloan, and David McKean, the authors of a new book called The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court. Sloan is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and David McKean, staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Justice Stevens role as moderator did not provide much insight into his views on Marbury, but Mauro reports, Justice Stevens did state that analyzing Marbury "for six week or seven weeks" during his first year at Northwestern Law School "'was the beginning of my legal career."'
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