Cert Granted in Black v. United States: At Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr asks whether the Supreme Court will finally limit the scope of the honest services fraud statute now that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Black v. United States. Kerr hopes that the Court will take this opportunity to limit the scope
of the clause, and construe criminal statutes narrowly, something he blogged about back in February. Black asks whether the "honest services" clause of 18 U.S.C. ยง 1346 applies in cases where the jury did not find that the defendants "reasonably contemplated identifiable economic harm..." According to Judge Posner's Seventh Circuit opinion, Black was the CEO of Hollinger International, which was owned by a Canadian company that Black also controlled. Black was accused of defrauding Hollinger through his association with the Canadian company, and at trial, the jury was instructed it could convict Black upon proof that he had schemed to deprive Hollinger and its shareholders "of their intangible right to the honest services of the corporate officers..." provided the objective of the scheme was "private gain." As Kerr points out, Scalia's dissent in Sorich v. United States, may offer insight into how the Supreme Court will decide the case.
Death Penalty Delay: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman points to an "interesting" L.A. Times article by Maura Dolan detailing the case of murderer Michael Ray Burgener, who was sentenced to death in 1981 and still remains on death row. The article states "Burgener's death sentence in the murder of a 7-Eleven clerk has been overturned multiple times, and lawyers say his appeals could span another 15 years." Unfortunately, Burgener has yet to complete his automatic appeal before the San Francisco-based California Supreme Court, which means that even after California renders a final verdict, Burgener may still appeal to the federal courts. Even more unfortunate, the article stresses that California is suffering under the cost of appeals, instead of looking how the victim's of Burgener's have yet to see this killer brought to justice.
Proposed Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009: The Civil Rights Practice Group of the Federalist Society has posted a piece by Gail Heriot discussing H.R. 1913, an Act that will allow federal authorities to prosecute a crime because it was motivated by the victim's "race, color, religion, or national origin" only to protect certain "federally protected activities." The new law would remove the requirement that the victim be engaged in a federally-protected activity and expand the list of protected categories to include actual or perceived "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." Critics of the Act worry that it will abrogate double jeopardy protections, since the Double Jeopardy Clause does not apply to dual prosecutions by the federal and state governments. The Act's supporters believe that DOJ officials can be trusted to engage in double prosecutions only in cases under which their internal guidelines would consider it appropriate -cases involving more serious miscarriages of justice. Heriot reports the bill passed in the House on April 29, 2009. She is a Professor at University of San Diego School of Law and a Commissioner for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
SCOTUS Speculation - More of Sotomayor's Civil Opinions: Tom Goldstein follows up on a post last week that summarized some of Judge Sotomayor's decisions for the second circuit. Today's post summarizes more civil opinions, and opines that Judge Sotomayor's civil decisions "seem largely in line with the views of Justice Souter."
Polling on the "Worst Judicial Activist": David Ingram reports for Blog of Legal Times that the Judicial Confirmation Network has created a website, obamasfrontrunners.com, and is asking its visitors to vote on which judicial frontrunner is the worst liberal judicial activist. The group has chosen three, and "[a]s of 1:17 this afternoon, Kagan was in the 'lead' with 44 percent. Wood was second with 32 percent, and Sotomayor had 24 percent."
Death Penalty Delay: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman points to an "interesting" L.A. Times article by Maura Dolan detailing the case of murderer Michael Ray Burgener, who was sentenced to death in 1981 and still remains on death row. The article states "Burgener's death sentence in the murder of a 7-Eleven clerk has been overturned multiple times, and lawyers say his appeals could span another 15 years." Unfortunately, Burgener has yet to complete his automatic appeal before the San Francisco-based California Supreme Court, which means that even after California renders a final verdict, Burgener may still appeal to the federal courts. Even more unfortunate, the article stresses that California is suffering under the cost of appeals, instead of looking how the victim's of Burgener's have yet to see this killer brought to justice.
Proposed Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009: The Civil Rights Practice Group of the Federalist Society has posted a piece by Gail Heriot discussing H.R. 1913, an Act that will allow federal authorities to prosecute a crime because it was motivated by the victim's "race, color, religion, or national origin" only to protect certain "federally protected activities." The new law would remove the requirement that the victim be engaged in a federally-protected activity and expand the list of protected categories to include actual or perceived "gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." Critics of the Act worry that it will abrogate double jeopardy protections, since the Double Jeopardy Clause does not apply to dual prosecutions by the federal and state governments. The Act's supporters believe that DOJ officials can be trusted to engage in double prosecutions only in cases under which their internal guidelines would consider it appropriate -cases involving more serious miscarriages of justice. Heriot reports the bill passed in the House on April 29, 2009. She is a Professor at University of San Diego School of Law and a Commissioner for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
SCOTUS Speculation - More of Sotomayor's Civil Opinions: Tom Goldstein follows up on a post last week that summarized some of Judge Sotomayor's decisions for the second circuit. Today's post summarizes more civil opinions, and opines that Judge Sotomayor's civil decisions "seem largely in line with the views of Justice Souter."
Polling on the "Worst Judicial Activist": David Ingram reports for Blog of Legal Times that the Judicial Confirmation Network has created a website, obamasfrontrunners.com, and is asking its visitors to vote on which judicial frontrunner is the worst liberal judicial activist. The group has chosen three, and "[a]s of 1:17 this afternoon, Kagan was in the 'lead' with 44 percent. Wood was second with 32 percent, and Sotomayor had 24 percent."
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