Battle Over Liu Begins to Brew: On How Appealing, Howard Bashman posts a link to Ariane de Vogue's ABC News article discussing the confirmation hearings of Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals. Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider Liu's nomination, and de Vogue writes that "[t]he hearing is expected to be contentious." American University Professor Stephen I. Vladeck believes Liu's confirmation "is a test case[,]" because "[m]ost of the early Obama nominees were tried-and-true moderate judges
with extensive experience on district courts. While Liu is not the first
non-judge to be nominated by the president, he is probably the most
prominent liberal academic." Liu's opinions on several "hot button" issues support Vladeck's claim. Liu sits on the board of the liberal American Constitution Society, and opposed the nominations of both Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. In an op-ed, Liu wrote that the nomination of Roberts "is a seismic event that threatens to deepen the nation's red-blue divide." A post from Deborah O'Malley on The Foundry explains why Liu as "Obama's Most Radical Judicial Nominee."
SCOTUScast on Johnson v. United States: Today, the Federalist Society posted its post-decision SCOTUScast for Johnson v. United States, a decision holding that a a prior Florida conviction for battery did not qualify as a "violent felony" for enhanced sentencing purpose under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In the SCOTUScast, Kevin H. Govern, an Assistant Professor at Ave Maria Law School, recaps the 7-2 decision delivered by Justice Scalia. Govern comments that after Johnson in order to qualify for sentence enhancement under the "violent felony" section of the Armed Career Criminal Act a person must engage in "force capable of causing physical pain or injury to another person." To reach this conclusion, the Court rejected the government's argument that force under the Act was a legal term of art that described the common law form of battery - which included even the slightest offensive touching. Govern states that after Johnson, the Armed Career Criminal Act, physical force is used to define the statutory category of violent felony - of causing pain or injury to another person.
Convicted Murderer Challenges Conviction Forty Years Later: Wall Street Journal's Law Blog writer, Ashby Jones, reports that yesterday, the Fourth Circuit heard arguments on Jeffrey MacDonald's motion for a new trial. MacDonald was convicted for the slaying of his wife Colette and daughters Kimberley, 5, and Kristen, 2, in 1970. The 4th Circuit tossed the convictions on speedy trial grounds, and he returned to work at the California hospital. But within two years, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the convictions, and MacDonald returned to prison. Now, according to an AP article by Larry O'Dell, MacDonald claims he has new evidence, including DNA tests and sworn statements by people maintaining his innocence. Throughout his trial, MacDonald had claimed that a bunch of drug-crazed hippies broke into his Ft. Bragg, N.C., home and killed his family. The case was the subject of the book Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss, and was turned into a 1984 movie starring Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, and Andy Griffith.
Packing the Court: At SCOTUSblog, Erin Miller posts Part II of her interview with Jeff Shesol, the author of Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. In his interview, Shesol comments that if President Franklin had honestly relayed his motivation for packing the Court to the public, his effort to increase the Court's membership would have succeeded.
SCOTUScast on Johnson v. United States: Today, the Federalist Society posted its post-decision SCOTUScast for Johnson v. United States, a decision holding that a a prior Florida conviction for battery did not qualify as a "violent felony" for enhanced sentencing purpose under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In the SCOTUScast, Kevin H. Govern, an Assistant Professor at Ave Maria Law School, recaps the 7-2 decision delivered by Justice Scalia. Govern comments that after Johnson in order to qualify for sentence enhancement under the "violent felony" section of the Armed Career Criminal Act a person must engage in "force capable of causing physical pain or injury to another person." To reach this conclusion, the Court rejected the government's argument that force under the Act was a legal term of art that described the common law form of battery - which included even the slightest offensive touching. Govern states that after Johnson, the Armed Career Criminal Act, physical force is used to define the statutory category of violent felony - of causing pain or injury to another person.
Convicted Murderer Challenges Conviction Forty Years Later: Wall Street Journal's Law Blog writer, Ashby Jones, reports that yesterday, the Fourth Circuit heard arguments on Jeffrey MacDonald's motion for a new trial. MacDonald was convicted for the slaying of his wife Colette and daughters Kimberley, 5, and Kristen, 2, in 1970. The 4th Circuit tossed the convictions on speedy trial grounds, and he returned to work at the California hospital. But within two years, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the convictions, and MacDonald returned to prison. Now, according to an AP article by Larry O'Dell, MacDonald claims he has new evidence, including DNA tests and sworn statements by people maintaining his innocence. Throughout his trial, MacDonald had claimed that a bunch of drug-crazed hippies broke into his Ft. Bragg, N.C., home and killed his family. The case was the subject of the book Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss, and was turned into a 1984 movie starring Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, and Andy Griffith.
Packing the Court: At SCOTUSblog, Erin Miller posts Part II of her interview with Jeff Shesol, the author of Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. In his interview, Shesol comments that if President Franklin had honestly relayed his motivation for packing the Court to the public, his effort to increase the Court's membership would have succeeded.
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