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AEDPA Rules Rescission

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Bob Egelko has this story in the SF Chron on USDoJ's decision to rescind the AEDPA fast track regulations and start over.

"The way they do things now is preposterously long," said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento. "What a federal (judge) is supposed to be doing is very limited ... to see if the (sentencing) decision is reasonable. That doesn't take very long if you do it right."

Actually, I didn't say the sentencing decision, I said the state court decision.

As is common in newspaper stories, the "conservative" organization (CJLF) is designated as such, while the organization on the other side, DPIC, is just referred to by name with no qualifier.

The head of the state habeas representation office is also quoted.

Considering the complexity of death penalty cases and the inadequacy of review at the state level, he said, even if fast-track took effect, "I don't see it possibly working. They can't be resolved any faster than now."
But that is preposterous.  The cases are resolved faster than in California nearly everywhere else in the country.

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