Examining Guantanamo Bay Policy: In a post titled The Gitmo Rebellion, Volokh Conspiracy blogger, Kenneth Anderson, expresses his thoughts on Nick Baumann's Mother Jones article by the same name. Baumann's article details recent efforts by Senators Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) to block funding to the Obama Administration's efforts to try 9/11 co-conspirators in civilian courts. Anderson offers these thoughts in response: (1) the big question is whether the trial of KSM and potentially others will be tried as civilians, in the Federal courts, or by military commission; (2) the Senators' efforts may mean "that Congress might at last be getting involved in something that
it has wanted to avoid getting involved with for years and years[;]" and finally, could changes proposed by Congress cause the administration's attorneys working on detainee policy to leave when things don't change?
Justice Kennedy Addresses Pepperdine School of Law: At Southern California Appellate News, Ben Shatz reports in on Justice Kennedy's 75 minute address to attendees of the William French Smith Memorial Lecture. Shatz reports that during the question and answer session, Justice Kennedy expressed his views on international law, sentencing, effective advocacy, and how he approaches the Constitution. With regard to sentencing, Shatz quotes the Justice as saying "I'm against mandatory sentences. They take away judicial discretion to serve the four goals of sentencing. American sentences are 8 times longer than their equivalents in Europe. California's 3-strikes law emanated from the electorate, and the sponsor of the initiative was the correctional officers association -- 'and that is sick.'"
Justice Thomas' Law School Speaking Tour: At Blog of Legal Times, Tony Mauro reports on speeches made by the Justice at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida and the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville. Mauro reports that both speeches demonstrate "yet again that [Justice Thomas] is incapable of giving a dull speech."
Two New Supreme Court Judges? Yesterday, Doug Berman posted on Sentencing Law and Policy that the Supreme Court may be ready for two new Supreme Court Justices. Berman links to an ABC News article by Ariane deVogue suggesting that both Justices Stevens and Ginsburg could leave the Court this year. Vogue gives the usual explanations for why each Justice may retire, and then suggests possible candidates. The list contains the usual suspects - Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Wood, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano - and then mentions some less obvious candidates - Cass Sunstein, Justice Leah Ward Sears, and Judge Merrick Garland. Berman does not appear to believe that Justice Ginsburg will leave this year. Ed Whalen at NRO's Bench Memos agrees. Jonathan Adler comments on Volokh Conspiracy that the specter of two Supreme Court vacancies "could help explain the Administration's tardiness in making other judicial nominations."
How Oyezed Opened Up the Court: At SCOTUSblog, Matt Sundquist posts a Q&A from his interview with Jerry Goldman, the creator of the Oyez Project and a Political Science Professor at Northwestern University. In the post, Goldman explains why he became interested in digitizing oral arguments from the U. S. Supreme Court, and how he went about creating a publicly-accessible archive of Supreme Court oral arguments dating back to 1955.
Justice Kennedy Addresses Pepperdine School of Law: At Southern California Appellate News, Ben Shatz reports in on Justice Kennedy's 75 minute address to attendees of the William French Smith Memorial Lecture. Shatz reports that during the question and answer session, Justice Kennedy expressed his views on international law, sentencing, effective advocacy, and how he approaches the Constitution. With regard to sentencing, Shatz quotes the Justice as saying "I'm against mandatory sentences. They take away judicial discretion to serve the four goals of sentencing. American sentences are 8 times longer than their equivalents in Europe. California's 3-strikes law emanated from the electorate, and the sponsor of the initiative was the correctional officers association -- 'and that is sick.'"
Justice Thomas' Law School Speaking Tour: At Blog of Legal Times, Tony Mauro reports on speeches made by the Justice at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida and the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville. Mauro reports that both speeches demonstrate "yet again that [Justice Thomas] is incapable of giving a dull speech."
Two New Supreme Court Judges? Yesterday, Doug Berman posted on Sentencing Law and Policy that the Supreme Court may be ready for two new Supreme Court Justices. Berman links to an ABC News article by Ariane deVogue suggesting that both Justices Stevens and Ginsburg could leave the Court this year. Vogue gives the usual explanations for why each Justice may retire, and then suggests possible candidates. The list contains the usual suspects - Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Wood, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano - and then mentions some less obvious candidates - Cass Sunstein, Justice Leah Ward Sears, and Judge Merrick Garland. Berman does not appear to believe that Justice Ginsburg will leave this year. Ed Whalen at NRO's Bench Memos agrees. Jonathan Adler comments on Volokh Conspiracy that the specter of two Supreme Court vacancies "could help explain the Administration's tardiness in making other judicial nominations."
How Oyezed Opened Up the Court: At SCOTUSblog, Matt Sundquist posts a Q&A from his interview with Jerry Goldman, the creator of the Oyez Project and a Political Science Professor at Northwestern University. In the post, Goldman explains why he became interested in digitizing oral arguments from the U. S. Supreme Court, and how he went about creating a publicly-accessible archive of Supreme Court oral arguments dating back to 1955.
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