Ninth Circuit Denies Rehearing in al-Kidd v. Ashcroft: Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the Ninth Circuit will not reconsider its ruling that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for misuse of the material witness
statute after the 9/11 attacks. Orin Kerr followed up with this post on Volokh Conspiracy. Last September, a panel for the Ninth Circuit held that the post-9/11 practice of using the material witness statute to detain
suspected terrorists is not only unconstitutional, but clearly
unconstitutional, and that former AG Ashcroft can be personally sued for
his role in it. Yesterday, the same judges denied rehearing. Judges O'Scannlain, Kozinski, Kleinfeld, Gould, Tallman, Callahan, Bea (the panel dissenter), and Ikuta dissented from denial of rehearing en banc. Kerr "think[s] there's a good chance the Supreme Court would agree to hear this
case."
Anticipate Supreme Court Decisions on Tuesday: On SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston reports that the Court is expected to announce opinions next Tuesday, "but probably not Wednesday." On Monday, the Court will issue orders, and hear oral arguments in two cases. The times of the two cases, Hamilton v. Lanning and Levin v. Commerce Energy, Inc., have been changed. The Court had originally scheduled to hear Levin at 10a.m., but, according to the Court's new calendar, Hamilton will now be argued first.
Federal Prison Population Debated by House: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman writes that "the size and nature of the national (and federal) prison population was a topic of discussion during a House hearing yesterday." According to a piece by Nick Wilson in the Courthouse News Service, members of the House are concerned about the growing numbers of inmates in federal prison. Yesterday, Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin testified that the prison population is expected to grow by an additional 7,000 members next year, and attributed growth to a variety of factors, including the exponential growth in women prisoners. Lappin also noted that the United States has seen a 45% increase in the last two years of people booked for immigration crimes, and countries like Vietnam and Cuba refuse to take back their convicted citizens. Right now, 55,000 prisoners are non-citizens. That is more than one quarter of the federal inmate population. Lappin's testimony was a part of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's review of the the Federal Prison Bureau's request to increase its fiscal year 2011 budget to $6.1 billion dollars. This is roughly $6 million more than this year's budget.
Political Leanings of the Court: At Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr posts the results of a new Rasmussen poll surveying the voting public's opinion of the Supreme Court. The poll asked 1,000 voters whether "...the Supreme Court too liberal, too conservative, or about right?" 32% said too liberal, 33% said about right, 23% said too conservative, and 11% weren't sure. Kerr comments that if the numbers are "accurate, it's fascinating to see such a gap between public opinion and portrayals of the Court in the media." Jim Lindgren discusses results of another Rasmussen poll here.
Anticipate Supreme Court Decisions on Tuesday: On SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston reports that the Court is expected to announce opinions next Tuesday, "but probably not Wednesday." On Monday, the Court will issue orders, and hear oral arguments in two cases. The times of the two cases, Hamilton v. Lanning and Levin v. Commerce Energy, Inc., have been changed. The Court had originally scheduled to hear Levin at 10a.m., but, according to the Court's new calendar, Hamilton will now be argued first.
Federal Prison Population Debated by House: At Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman writes that "the size and nature of the national (and federal) prison population was a topic of discussion during a House hearing yesterday." According to a piece by Nick Wilson in the Courthouse News Service, members of the House are concerned about the growing numbers of inmates in federal prison. Yesterday, Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin testified that the prison population is expected to grow by an additional 7,000 members next year, and attributed growth to a variety of factors, including the exponential growth in women prisoners. Lappin also noted that the United States has seen a 45% increase in the last two years of people booked for immigration crimes, and countries like Vietnam and Cuba refuse to take back their convicted citizens. Right now, 55,000 prisoners are non-citizens. That is more than one quarter of the federal inmate population. Lappin's testimony was a part of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's review of the the Federal Prison Bureau's request to increase its fiscal year 2011 budget to $6.1 billion dollars. This is roughly $6 million more than this year's budget.
Political Leanings of the Court: At Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr posts the results of a new Rasmussen poll surveying the voting public's opinion of the Supreme Court. The poll asked 1,000 voters whether "...the Supreme Court too liberal, too conservative, or about right?" 32% said too liberal, 33% said about right, 23% said too conservative, and 11% weren't sure. Kerr comments that if the numbers are "accurate, it's fascinating to see such a gap between public opinion and portrayals of the Court in the media." Jim Lindgren discusses results of another Rasmussen poll here.
Leave a comment