Judge Sotomayor's Republican Support: Today on SCOTUSblog, Kristina Moore reports that Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has announced he will vote against Judge Sotomayor's confirmation. Senator Grassley was one of the last Senate Judiciary Republicans to announce his vote, and unless Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) votes to confirm Judge Sotomayor, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) may be the only Republican backing President Obama's pick for the seat. Earlier today, Senator Jeffrey Sessions (R-AL) also announced he would vote against Judge Sotomayor's confirmation. Both Senators Sessions and Grassley credited their fear that Judge Sotomayor would allow personal beliefs to influence her decisions as a reason for their "No" vote. Sessions also stated "I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions
necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism. She has evoked
its mantra too often. As someone who cares deeply about our great
heritage of law, I must withhold my consent." David Ingram also has this report on Judge Sotomayor's dwindling GOP support on Blog of Legal Times.
Federal Habeas Article: Thanks to Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy for linking to "Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice," an essay by Professors Joseph L. Hoffman and Nancy J. King in NYU Law Review. The essay argues that federal habeas review of state criminal cases is broken and "squanders judicial resources." The authors look to King's 2007 empirical study and "the Supreme Court's most recent decision applying the Suspension Clause," and conclude that Congress should "eliminate federal habeas review of state criminal judgments except for certain claims of actual innocence, claims based on retroactively applicable new rules, or death sentences." The authors propose that the money saved by eliminating such review could be used to fund state defense services. When Hoffman and King advocate habeas review of death sentences, they advocate review only if (a) petitioner's "death sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States or (b) he is legally ineligible to be executed." In this article, the authors "defer to another forum a discussion of the proper scope of habeas in capital cases, including the appropriate standard of review and the application of doctrines such as procedural default that currently limit habeas relief." Footnote #105 tells us they plan to write a book addressing the proper scope of habeas corpus in capital cases. For now, Hoffman and King just propose keeping habeas review of capital cases separate, instead of attempting a "misguided effort to develop "onesize-fits-all" habeas rule[]..." We are inclined to think that federal review of issues going only to the sentence imposed on a death-eligible murderer should be the first item to go on the scrap heap.
A Plea for Action in D.C. Murder Case.: Today, on Wall Street Journal Blog, Ashby Jones writes about "the tragic story of Robert Wone." Three years ago, Wone was murdered while he was visiting friends in Washington, D.C. To date, no one has been charged with his murder. Police have charged three men of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and crime-scene tampering. Robert Wone's murder has spawned a website, and today, the Washington Post allowed its editors, David Greer and Craig Brownstein, to write an opinion piece discussing Wone's murder. The piece details problems with solving a homicide in D.C. and concludes, "Many want to see justice in the scores of unsolved cases, but this one example has revealed a chilling fact: Being a homicide victim in the District may be a great equalizer; position guarantees you nothing. If the slain former colleague of the U.S. attorney general gets lethargic and sloppy treatment from authorities, then what hope do the rest of us have?"
Federal Habeas Article: Thanks to Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy for linking to "Rethinking the Federal Role in State Criminal Justice," an essay by Professors Joseph L. Hoffman and Nancy J. King in NYU Law Review. The essay argues that federal habeas review of state criminal cases is broken and "squanders judicial resources." The authors look to King's 2007 empirical study and "the Supreme Court's most recent decision applying the Suspension Clause," and conclude that Congress should "eliminate federal habeas review of state criminal judgments except for certain claims of actual innocence, claims based on retroactively applicable new rules, or death sentences." The authors propose that the money saved by eliminating such review could be used to fund state defense services. When Hoffman and King advocate habeas review of death sentences, they advocate review only if (a) petitioner's "death sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States or (b) he is legally ineligible to be executed." In this article, the authors "defer to another forum a discussion of the proper scope of habeas in capital cases, including the appropriate standard of review and the application of doctrines such as procedural default that currently limit habeas relief." Footnote #105 tells us they plan to write a book addressing the proper scope of habeas corpus in capital cases. For now, Hoffman and King just propose keeping habeas review of capital cases separate, instead of attempting a "misguided effort to develop "onesize-fits-all" habeas rule[]..." We are inclined to think that federal review of issues going only to the sentence imposed on a death-eligible murderer should be the first item to go on the scrap heap.
A Plea for Action in D.C. Murder Case.: Today, on Wall Street Journal Blog, Ashby Jones writes about "the tragic story of Robert Wone." Three years ago, Wone was murdered while he was visiting friends in Washington, D.C. To date, no one has been charged with his murder. Police have charged three men of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and crime-scene tampering. Robert Wone's murder has spawned a website, and today, the Washington Post allowed its editors, David Greer and Craig Brownstein, to write an opinion piece discussing Wone's murder. The piece details problems with solving a homicide in D.C. and concludes, "Many want to see justice in the scores of unsolved cases, but this one example has revealed a chilling fact: Being a homicide victim in the District may be a great equalizer; position guarantees you nothing. If the slain former colleague of the U.S. attorney general gets lethargic and sloppy treatment from authorities, then what hope do the rest of us have?"
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