A Problem of Racism on the Senate Judiciary Committee?

by · Jun 21, 2021 12:01 pm

Two days after the first national celebration of Juneteenth, you probably thought we were past the time when United States senators, particularly on the Judiciary Committee charged with helping to guarantee civil rights, would be members of fancy all-white clubs.  Indeed, until just now, I wasn’t aware that all-while clubs still existed.

Time to wake up.  Meet Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, former US Attorney for Rhode Island and now Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.

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No SCOTUS Criminal Cases Today

by · Jun 21, 2021 8:26 am

As the U.S. Supreme Court winds down its October 2020 Term, it decided three civil cases today. They involve securities litigation class actions, antitrust and student athletes, and the Appointments Clause and patent reviews.

No new cases, civil or criminal, were taken up for full review in the next term. Continue reading . . .

The Entirely Foreseeable Consequence of the War on Police

by · Jun 18, 2021 4:08 pm

Maxine Bernstein reports for the Oregonian:

Officers who serve on the Portland Police Bureau’s specialized crowd control unit, known as the Rapid Response Team, voted to resign from the team during a meeting Wednesday night.

The unprecedented move by about 50 officers, detectives and sergeants to disband their own team came a day after a team member, Officer Corey Budworth, was indicted, accused of fourth-degree assault stemming from a baton strike against a protester last summer.

The team commander submitted this memorandum to the chief explaining the reasons for the mass resignation. The reasons will not come as any surprise to those who have been paying attention. This is dangerous work. Yet those who are putting their lives on the line for the rest of us are getting the backing and support they should be getting from local leaders. Continue reading . . .

The Marathon Bomber Briefs

by · Jun 18, 2021 10:38 am

We put the finishing touches on CJLF’s friend-of-the-court brief in the Marathon Bomber case yesterday. Links will be available to the PDF version here and on our main website Monday after it is filed.

As Bill noted Tuesday, the Government followed through with a brief on the merits seeking reinstatement of the death sentence despite the present Administration’s anti-death-penalty stance. It does appear that the political types stepped back and let the pros do their job. They produced a brief up to the high standards of the Solicitor General’s Office–thoroughly researched and well-written. Continue reading . . .

Criminal Released Early in San Francisco Stabs Elderly Woman

by · Jun 17, 2021 11:47 am

The NYPost has this story on a 94-year-old Asian woman, Ann Taylor, who was stabbed by a man who was under ankle monitor surveillance when he committed this unprovoked attack against her in front of her San Francisco residence. The man, Daniel Cauich, “…had reportedly been arrested five times last year on burglary charges, was sprung by a judge on June 7 to await his trial after his most recent arrest for burglary on May 18.” 

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Enabling Fatal Drug Overdoses in San Francisco

by · Jun 16, 2021 12:59 pm

For the past few years there have been virtually no legal consequences for selling or using drugs in San Francisco.   To address the thousands of addicts living and dying on the streets, city leaders have funded programs which visit the places where addicts congregate and hand out Narcan, a fentanyl antidote, and counsel addicts to shoot up with a partner to prevent an overdose.  As reported by Amy Graff of SF Gate, fatal drug overdoses in San Francisco increased by 70% from 2018 to 2019, and by over 50% in 2020. Over the first quarter of 2021 fatal overdoses have increased by 39% as the city heads for another record-breaking year .  Most of these deaths were caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pouring across American’s southern border and is sold on the streets in every part of the country.

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Drugs, Arrest, Incarceration, Responsibility and the Resurrection of a Life

by · Jun 16, 2021 12:07 am

This country has been having a seemingly endless debate about drugs.  Although there are gradations in between, there seem to be two mostly opposing camps, to wit, those who would treat drugs as a law enforcement problem, and those who would treat them as a public health problem.

I spent four years as Counselor to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration.  Drugs are both a law enforcement and a public health problem, and we aren’t going to solve it either by dismissing law enforcement as mere latter day Puritanism, nor by dismissing the opportunity for treatment as mere mush-minded coddling.  But what’s getting overlooked is that no part of the system can be the foundation for a solution.  The foundation for overcoming drugs, as with so much else, is the individual’s understanding that he is responsible for his life and behavior, and his determination to own that responsibility every minute of every day.  This post is about the story of one young lady, Ginny Burton, who resurrected her life with the indispensable help of law enforcement, incarceration, and coming to terms with her failings  —  and then, wonderfully, her potential.

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The Stench Gets Some Air Freshener

by · Jun 15, 2021 7:44 am

Yesterday, I wrote that the stench of politics had taken hold at the Justice Department when, at the last minute, it decided to deep-six a brief supporting the sound analysis of the Eleventh Circuit in a crack cocaine sentencing case and argue instead that the overall “intent” of two leniency-oriented statutes, the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, should displace their plain text.  A unanimous SCOTUS made short work of DOJ’s lame appeal to duck the words Congress chose in favor of a more Oprah Winfrey-like approach.  The only conceivable reason for the Department’s unprincipled, embarrassing and (fortunately) futile action was politics  —   specifically, that pro-drug and pro-criminal elements in the President’s political base simply wanted what they wanted.  That DOJ at its highest levels would so easily be chased away from a sober approach to its legal obligations is alarming.

I’m happy to report that, today, we saw a different face.

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The Stench of Politics at DOJ

by · Jun 14, 2021 8:37 pm

Remember all the stuff we were hearing during the Presidential campaign about how we needed to make a change in order to get politics out of the Justice Department?  It was all a joke  —  on us.  Ed Whelan has the story today of what would surely be a scandal if Bill Barr tried it, and is a scandal today, squarely on the plate of Merrick Garland  —  a man I’m sure knows better.

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