The Republican Vote Against Sotomayor: At The Ninth Justice, Steven Shepard reports that a majority of Republican up for re-election voted against Judge Sotomayor's confirmation. Shepard reports that four of the nine Republicans who voted to confirm Judge Sotomayor are likely to retire in 2010. This could be because a majority of Republicans opposed Judge Sotomayor's nomination. Research polls showed that 27% said she should be confirmed, and 58% said she should not. And, of the states represented by Republicans whose 2008 electorate was more than 9
percent Hispanic - Arizona (16 percent), Florida (14 percent), Nevada
(15 percent) and Texas (20 percent) - only Senator Mel Martinez (R- FL) voted for her confirmation. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Senator John McCain of Arizona, all voted against. Chris Cillizza at Washington Post's The Fix similarly reports that of the Republicans running for the Senate in 2010, only House Representative Pat Toomey (PA) came out in support of Sotomayor's confirmation.
Federal Judge Asks President Obama to Reduce Cocaine Dealer's Sentence: Doug Berman posts on Sentencing Law and Policy that U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia is asking President Obama to reduce the 27-year sentence of Byron Lamont McDade. McDade was convicted of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture containing cocaine. Judge Friedman sentenced McDade in 2002, at a time when federal sentencing guidelines required the 324-month term. Those guidelines became advisory as the result of a Supreme Court decision in 2005, and Judge Friedman believes he has no authority to re-open the sentence. Both Berman and Josh Gerstein at Politico write that this could reveal the President's stance on executive clemency. Berman believes that "President Obama's failure to grant even a single clemency through now his second 100 days in office should keep McDade from expecting too much in response to Judge Friedman's call for presidential action." Berman also provides a link to U.S. v. McDade.
Cameras in the Supreme Court: Tony Mauro reports on Blog of Legal Times that for the first time, cameras will be allowed in the Supreme Court to televise Judge Sotomayor's oath-taking on Saturday, August 8th. C-SPAN will air the proceedings beginning at 11a.m. Only Justice Thomas' oath-taking ceremony has been televised, and that proceeding took place at the White House, and not the Supreme Court. Mauro writes this will give viewers a "rare live glimpse of the East Conference Room, where Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. will administer the judicial oath to Sotomayor."
More on Hate-Crime Laws: As a follow-up to Wednesday's News Scan, Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy, has a post briefly discussing The Cato Institute's David Rittgers article on the new federal hate-crime statute. Rittgers' reports that the statute "greatly expands the federal government's jurisdiction to prosecute cases that properly belong in a state court." It does this by allowing "federal prosecution of crimes motivated by the race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim." Adler opines "the bill simultaneously expands federal jurisdiction to cover yet more criminal offenses traditionally handled at the state and local level and encourages reprosecution if a state verdict is insufficiently harsh to satisfy federal prosecutors."
Clearing California's Prisons: Ashby Jones wonders on Wall Street Journal's Law Blog how California is going to clear its prisons of 40,000 prisoners now that a three judge panel has ordered the state had to reduce its prison rolls by about 40,000 inmates. According to Jones, a Wall Street Journal article by Bobby White and Ryan Knutson reports state officials have announced they will appeal the decision, but "[a]t the same time, cash-strapped local governments in places such as Los Angeles and Fresno are grappling with how to monitor and support thousands of released inmates at a time of scaled-down police forces and underfunded social-services programs." The current plan will not release all 40,000 prisoners at once, and is proposing deportation of illegal-immigrant inmates and allowing some low-level offenders to serve the final year of their sentences under house arrest. "The state may also change sentencing guidelines so offenders charged with crimes such as drug possession would be prosecuted for misdemeanors instead of felonies. If convicted, inmates would be sentenced to county jails rather than state prisons."
Federal Judge Asks President Obama to Reduce Cocaine Dealer's Sentence: Doug Berman posts on Sentencing Law and Policy that U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia is asking President Obama to reduce the 27-year sentence of Byron Lamont McDade. McDade was convicted of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture containing cocaine. Judge Friedman sentenced McDade in 2002, at a time when federal sentencing guidelines required the 324-month term. Those guidelines became advisory as the result of a Supreme Court decision in 2005, and Judge Friedman believes he has no authority to re-open the sentence. Both Berman and Josh Gerstein at Politico write that this could reveal the President's stance on executive clemency. Berman believes that "President Obama's failure to grant even a single clemency through now his second 100 days in office should keep McDade from expecting too much in response to Judge Friedman's call for presidential action." Berman also provides a link to U.S. v. McDade.
Cameras in the Supreme Court: Tony Mauro reports on Blog of Legal Times that for the first time, cameras will be allowed in the Supreme Court to televise Judge Sotomayor's oath-taking on Saturday, August 8th. C-SPAN will air the proceedings beginning at 11a.m. Only Justice Thomas' oath-taking ceremony has been televised, and that proceeding took place at the White House, and not the Supreme Court. Mauro writes this will give viewers a "rare live glimpse of the East Conference Room, where Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. will administer the judicial oath to Sotomayor."
More on Hate-Crime Laws: As a follow-up to Wednesday's News Scan, Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy, has a post briefly discussing The Cato Institute's David Rittgers article on the new federal hate-crime statute. Rittgers' reports that the statute "greatly expands the federal government's jurisdiction to prosecute cases that properly belong in a state court." It does this by allowing "federal prosecution of crimes motivated by the race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victim." Adler opines "the bill simultaneously expands federal jurisdiction to cover yet more criminal offenses traditionally handled at the state and local level and encourages reprosecution if a state verdict is insufficiently harsh to satisfy federal prosecutors."
Clearing California's Prisons: Ashby Jones wonders on Wall Street Journal's Law Blog how California is going to clear its prisons of 40,000 prisoners now that a three judge panel has ordered the state had to reduce its prison rolls by about 40,000 inmates. According to Jones, a Wall Street Journal article by Bobby White and Ryan Knutson reports state officials have announced they will appeal the decision, but "[a]t the same time, cash-strapped local governments in places such as Los Angeles and Fresno are grappling with how to monitor and support thousands of released inmates at a time of scaled-down police forces and underfunded social-services programs." The current plan will not release all 40,000 prisoners at once, and is proposing deportation of illegal-immigrant inmates and allowing some low-level offenders to serve the final year of their sentences under house arrest. "The state may also change sentencing guidelines so offenders charged with crimes such as drug possession would be prosecuted for misdemeanors instead of felonies. If convicted, inmates would be sentenced to county jails rather than state prisons."
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