by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 3, 2021 10:14 am
“Curiouser and curiouser.” In the wonderland that is Los Angeles County, deputy district attorneys are forbidden by their “woke” boss to attend parole hearings to oppose the release of violent thugs. Now the county sheriff (who has some dubious policies of his own) is going to send sheriff’s deputies to the hearings, so that victims and justice are not entirely unrepresented. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 3, 2021 9:36 am
Generally, one cannot sue a foreign government in American courts. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act establishes the basic rule, subject only to specified exceptions.
In Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, No. 19-351, the Supreme Court addressed a sale of art allegedly coerced by the government of Nazi Germany in 1935 for only one-third of its value. Can the heirs of the sellers sue the present German government in U.S. courts to get it back? Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Feb 2, 2021 12:00 pm
Sarah Lynch at U.S. News and World Report reports on a spat between the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat and Republican over scheduling the confirmation hearing for AG-Nominee Merrick Garland. Incoming Chairman Dick Durbin wants the hearing February 8 for one day, but outgoing Chairman Lindsay Graham says one day is not enough. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 28, 2021 3:05 pm
Charles Stimson and Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation have prepared an extensive paper on the policies of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón. The web version is here, and a downloadable PDF version is here. Here is the lead paragraph:
George Gascón, the Soros-backed former District Attorney of San Francisco, is now the District Attorney for Los Angeles County. He has, in mere weeks, put into place radical pro-criminal and anti-prosecution policies and is, in a twisted way, the gold standard for rogue prosecutors. The impact of his reckless and dangerous policies is just starting to be felt—and will come into full bloom in the months and years ahead.
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 26, 2021 9:50 am
The Federalist Society’s “Feddie Night Fights” feature this Friday is a debate on plea bargaining between C&C blogger Bill Otis and the Cato Institute’s Clark Neily. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 25, 2021 10:17 am
The U.S. Supreme Court released its orders list from Friday’s conference, but there is little action in criminal law.
The Boston Marathon Bomber case was not acted on, and the next conference is February 19. Hopes of having the case heard and decided this term are fading. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 19, 2021 11:22 am
Earlier this month, Michael Rushford had this post on a San Francisco case where a habitual criminal killed two pedestrians in a hit-and-run. This Jan. 10 editorial similarly denounces the SF DA’s failure to keep this dangerous criminal locked up and his disingenuous attempt to blame the parole system. From the editorial (emphasis added):
His rap sheet dates back years, but the sum of the nightmare charges and past offenses match nearly every public grievance about rampant drug use, auto break-ins and burglaries, pedestrian safety, and the image of an ineffectual, spinning-door court system. The suspect didn’t deserve to be on the loose.
What is remarkable about this obviously correct statement is that it appears in an editorial of the San Francisco Chronicle, not a place we commonly see calls for tougher crime measures. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 15, 2021 1:58 pm
For many years on this blog I have denounced claims that a “disparity” between the percentage of a given racial or ethnic group subject to some criminal justice action and the percentage of the group in the general population supports an inference that bias in the system is the reason. I call this the Fallacy of the Irrelevant Denominator. The makeup of the general population is irrelevant because the general population is mostly law-abiding people, while serious criminal justice consequences are for people who have committed serious crimes.
Yesterday, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a study that confirms what I have been saying as applied to violent crimes. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 13, 2021 10:29 am
On Monday I noted that the initial charges against the Capitol rioters were fairly ordinary criminal charges but implied I expected that to change. This report in the WSJ confirms that the acting US Attorney is indeed looking in that direction. Continue reading . . .
by Kent Scheidegger · Jan 12, 2021 11:22 am
In California, as in most states, trial court prosecutors are elected locally, giving the people of a county some degree of local control over how prosecutorial discretion is exercised. Discretion is not unlimited, though, and there are state laws that cannot properly be brushed aside in the name of local policy.
The California District Attorneys Association today released an open letter to the (Los Angeles) Association of Deputy District Attorneys expressing concerns that the policy directives of new LA DA George Gascón go beyond the limits of policy and place deputies in the position of being ordered to violate their legal and ethical obligations. Continue reading . . .
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