Judge Sotomayor, An "Activist" Justice?: In a recent post on CQ Politics, Seth Stern reports that Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) will not be voting to confirm Judge Sotomayor. Senator Brownback voiced his concern that Judge Sotomayor will not be an "impartial umpire" in a speech made on the Senate floor yesterday, where he announced "Judge Sotomayor has indicated through past rulings and in her writings
that she believes the judiciary should take an activist role and make
laws, instead of upholding the law." At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman also wondered if Judge Sotomayor would make "activists" comments about the Second and Eighth Amendments during her confirmation hearings. His post points to a New York Times article which may provide insight to Sotomayor's views on the death penalty, and a Los Angeles Times article that discusses her views on the Second Amendment. Berman delights in reading these two stories side by side because "they help highlight how justified and unjustified judicial "activism" is in the (always biased?) eye of the beholder."
Criminal Law Decisions from the Supreme Court: As Doug Berman pointed out on Sentencing Law and Policy, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the last two criminal justice cases of the term today. Berman provides a quick summary of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts and Safford United School Dist. #1 v. Redding, while Tony Mauro provides a full report of the Safford decision at Blog of Legal Times. Mauro writes that in one of his final decisions, Justice Souter "ruled for a divided Court . . .that the intrusive strip search of an Arizona middle-school girl in pursuit of drugs was a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights." However, because the scope of her Fourth Amendment right was not clear at the time of her search, the assistant principal who ordered the search was entitled to qualified immunity. Thirteen-year-old Savana Redding had been accused of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen pills and was ordered to strip down to her underwear so that the school nurse could search her for the drugs. None were found and Savana's mother sued the school district claiming a Fourth Amendment violation. Justice Souter said that under the Court's precedent on student searches in the 1985 case New Jersey v. T.L.O, the school was justified in conducting a limited search of the girl's backpack and outer clothing, but requiring her to strip to her underwear and partly expose herself was excessive. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito Jr. joined the majority. Justices Ginsburg and Stevens agreed there had been a constitutional violation, but dissented on the issue of qualified immunity. Justice Thomas did not believe the search violated the Fourth Amendment in the first place.
Judges Posner, Easterbrook and Bauer Threatened, Radio Talk-Show Host Arrested: At Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Ashby Jones reports that blogger and radio talk-show host Hal Turner has been arrested for a June 2nd blog post stating "[t]hese judges need to be killed." Federal authorities in New Jersey arrested Turner for comments that the FBI calls "a threat to assault or murder a United States judge," despite the lack of evidence that anyone had taken steps to carry out the threat. But Turner certainly made it easy for anyone who intended to carry out his threat. According to Jones, Turner allegedly posted the work addresses of the judges as well as their photos, and a map of Chicago's federal courthouse highlighting its "anti-truck-bomb" pylons. He included a note that the Judges home addresses would follow. Seventh Circuit Judges Posner, Easterbrook and Bauer apparently incited Turner's anger by upholding two handgun bans in Chicago. This New York Times article, by Eric Lichtblau, discusses the arrest.
Criminal Law Decisions from the Supreme Court: As Doug Berman pointed out on Sentencing Law and Policy, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the last two criminal justice cases of the term today. Berman provides a quick summary of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts and Safford United School Dist. #1 v. Redding, while Tony Mauro provides a full report of the Safford decision at Blog of Legal Times. Mauro writes that in one of his final decisions, Justice Souter "ruled for a divided Court . . .that the intrusive strip search of an Arizona middle-school girl in pursuit of drugs was a violation of her Fourth Amendment rights." However, because the scope of her Fourth Amendment right was not clear at the time of her search, the assistant principal who ordered the search was entitled to qualified immunity. Thirteen-year-old Savana Redding had been accused of possessing prescription-strength ibuprofen pills and was ordered to strip down to her underwear so that the school nurse could search her for the drugs. None were found and Savana's mother sued the school district claiming a Fourth Amendment violation. Justice Souter said that under the Court's precedent on student searches in the 1985 case New Jersey v. T.L.O, the school was justified in conducting a limited search of the girl's backpack and outer clothing, but requiring her to strip to her underwear and partly expose herself was excessive. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito Jr. joined the majority. Justices Ginsburg and Stevens agreed there had been a constitutional violation, but dissented on the issue of qualified immunity. Justice Thomas did not believe the search violated the Fourth Amendment in the first place.
Judges Posner, Easterbrook and Bauer Threatened, Radio Talk-Show Host Arrested: At Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Ashby Jones reports that blogger and radio talk-show host Hal Turner has been arrested for a June 2nd blog post stating "[t]hese judges need to be killed." Federal authorities in New Jersey arrested Turner for comments that the FBI calls "a threat to assault or murder a United States judge," despite the lack of evidence that anyone had taken steps to carry out the threat. But Turner certainly made it easy for anyone who intended to carry out his threat. According to Jones, Turner allegedly posted the work addresses of the judges as well as their photos, and a map of Chicago's federal courthouse highlighting its "anti-truck-bomb" pylons. He included a note that the Judges home addresses would follow. Seventh Circuit Judges Posner, Easterbrook and Bauer apparently incited Turner's anger by upholding two handgun bans in Chicago. This New York Times article, by Eric Lichtblau, discusses the arrest.
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