Supreme Court Media Coverage: This term the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear several crime related cases. The media and academics have followed suit. SCOTUSblog's Erin Miller notes in her Wednesday Roundup that last Saturday, C-SPAN aired interviews with the lawyers who argued Graham v. Florida and Sullivan v. Florida. Also, the Federalist Society's SCOTUScast, posted its "Cert. Granted SCOTUScast Debate" for the Second Amendment case, McDonald v. City of Chicago. In the debate, George Mason University School of Law Professor Nelson Lund moderates a discussion between Clark Niely, a Senior Attorney for the Institute for Justice (and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in District of Columbia v. Heller), and Kurt Lash, a Loyola Law School Professor. The two discuss whether the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes
the Second Amendment applicable to the States and invalidates Chicago's
ordinance prohibiting the possession of handguns in the home.
Attorney General Holder Comments on Criminal Justice System: Doug Berman posts on Sentencing Law and Policy that AG Holder has recently given "[t]wo notable speeches" on criminal justice and sentencing. Berman first addresses yesterday's speech at the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Press Conference where Holder announced the launch of an interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to combat financial crime. In his speech Holder stated, "In the tough economic environment we face today, one of this Administration's most important missions is to draw upon all of the resources of the federal government to fight financial fraud in all of its forms." He believes the new task force will hold criminals accountable and stop future financial meltdowns. The second speech, given Monday at the Brennan Center for Justice Legacy Awards Dinner, focused on the importance of effective defense counsel, and urged federal, state, and local governments to provide better services to indigent defendants. Holder believes, "that if more Americans knew more about how some of their fellow citizens experience the criminal justice system, they would be shocked and angered...." Berman notes that he does not always share this belief. He states that when it comes to to repeat and violent offenders he is not sure "whether many members of the public would truly be 'shocked and angered' about how these defendants experience the criminal justice system."
9/11 Victim's Family Upset Over Civil Trials for Terrorists: At Blog of Legal Times, Mike Scarcella reports that in a personal conversation with Attorney General Holder, Alice Hoagland, who lost a son when Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field, told Holder that she takes "great exception to your decision to give short shrift to the military commissions." She told Holder, ""I think I speak for many 9-11 families when I say that we are heartsick and weary of the delays and the machinations. I am afraid the theatrics are going to take over at this point, and I very much regret that." According to Scarcella, Holder asked Hoagland to trust the administration. He stated, "There are reasons why bringing this case in an Article III court, when it comes to the admissibility of certain evidence, is really the right way to go and really maximizes our chances of getting a successful outcome." At Volokh Conspiracy, Eric Posner hypothesizes on how the DOJ may view the civilian trials for 9/11 terrorists.
New Biography on Justice Scalia: Over the past two days Bench Memos' Ed Whalen, a former clerk for Justice Scalia, has been commenting on Joan Biskupic's new biography, An American Original: The Life and Constitution of Justice Antonin Scalia. Whalen's take on the biography is not too positive. In his first post he notes, "The book is well written, much more so than I expected from my occasional encounters with Biskupic's reporting. It is also in many places more evenhanded than I expected. And I found the first four chapters particularly interesting." The remaining posts (here, here and here) flesh out Whalen's criticisms.
Google Adds Case Law to 'Scholar': Ashby Jones of Wall Street Journal's Law Blog has the details here.
Attorney General Holder Comments on Criminal Justice System: Doug Berman posts on Sentencing Law and Policy that AG Holder has recently given "[t]wo notable speeches" on criminal justice and sentencing. Berman first addresses yesterday's speech at the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Press Conference where Holder announced the launch of an interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to combat financial crime. In his speech Holder stated, "In the tough economic environment we face today, one of this Administration's most important missions is to draw upon all of the resources of the federal government to fight financial fraud in all of its forms." He believes the new task force will hold criminals accountable and stop future financial meltdowns. The second speech, given Monday at the Brennan Center for Justice Legacy Awards Dinner, focused on the importance of effective defense counsel, and urged federal, state, and local governments to provide better services to indigent defendants. Holder believes, "that if more Americans knew more about how some of their fellow citizens experience the criminal justice system, they would be shocked and angered...." Berman notes that he does not always share this belief. He states that when it comes to to repeat and violent offenders he is not sure "whether many members of the public would truly be 'shocked and angered' about how these defendants experience the criminal justice system."
9/11 Victim's Family Upset Over Civil Trials for Terrorists: At Blog of Legal Times, Mike Scarcella reports that in a personal conversation with Attorney General Holder, Alice Hoagland, who lost a son when Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field, told Holder that she takes "great exception to your decision to give short shrift to the military commissions." She told Holder, ""I think I speak for many 9-11 families when I say that we are heartsick and weary of the delays and the machinations. I am afraid the theatrics are going to take over at this point, and I very much regret that." According to Scarcella, Holder asked Hoagland to trust the administration. He stated, "There are reasons why bringing this case in an Article III court, when it comes to the admissibility of certain evidence, is really the right way to go and really maximizes our chances of getting a successful outcome." At Volokh Conspiracy, Eric Posner hypothesizes on how the DOJ may view the civilian trials for 9/11 terrorists.
New Biography on Justice Scalia: Over the past two days Bench Memos' Ed Whalen, a former clerk for Justice Scalia, has been commenting on Joan Biskupic's new biography, An American Original: The Life and Constitution of Justice Antonin Scalia. Whalen's take on the biography is not too positive. In his first post he notes, "The book is well written, much more so than I expected from my occasional encounters with Biskupic's reporting. It is also in many places more evenhanded than I expected. And I found the first four chapters particularly interesting." The remaining posts (here, here and here) flesh out Whalen's criticisms.
Google Adds Case Law to 'Scholar': Ashby Jones of Wall Street Journal's Law Blog has the details here.
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