August 18, 2009 • 5:57 pm
“Justice SCALIA, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS joins,dissenting — Today this Court takes the extraordinary step—one nottaken in nearly 50 years—of instructing a district court toadjudicate a state prisoner’s petition for an original writ of habeas corpus. The Court proceeds down this path even though every judicial and executive body that has examined petitioner’s stale claim of innocence has been unpersuaded, and (to make matters worst) even though it would be impossible for the District Court to grant any relief. Far from demonstrating, as this Court’s Rule 20.4(a) requires, “exceptional circumstances” that “warrant the exercise of the Court’s discretionary powers,” petitioner’s claim is a sure loser. Transferring his petition to the District Court is a confusing exercise that can serve nopurpose except to delay the State’s execution of its lawful criminal judgment. I respectfully dissent…”
Filed under: Uncategorized
August 17, 2009 • 7:16 pm
Hearing on innocence claim ordered [SCOTUSBLOG] Monday, August 17th, 2009 | Lyle Denniston | “The Supreme Court, over two Justices’ dissents, on Monday ordered a federal judge in Georgia to consider and rule on the claim of innocence in the murder case against Troy Anthony Davis (In re Davis, 08-1443) The Court told the District Court to “receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis'] innocence.”
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. Some of their arguments were answered in a separate opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The new member of the Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, took no part in the Court’s action.”
Filed under: Uncategorized , actual_innocence, capital_punishment, habeas_corpus
Filed under: Uncategorized
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Declining Utility of the Politics of Racial Resentment (Tuesday, July 14, 2009), Jack M. Balkin, Balkinization:
“I was speaking with a colleague today about the various rhetorical attacks now being levied on Judge Sotomayor — equating the idea of empathy for those less fortunate with prejudice, and offering Judge Sotomayor’s background as a reason to think that she could not be an impartial jurist (as opposed to persons with backgrounds like those of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, for example). Both of these ideas come from the mouth of that paragon of judicial probity, Jeff Sessions, Senator from Alabama. It is a new and improved way to play the race card, to seek to imbue issues of judging, impartiality and fairness with decidedly racial overtones…”
Filed under: Uncategorized
Filed under: Uncategorized
Congressional Research Service — Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Analysis of Selected Opinions:
Summary: “In May 2009, Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his intention to retire from the Supreme Court. Several weeks later, President Obama nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to fill his seat. To fulfill its constitutional “advice and consent” function, the Senate will consider Judge Sotomayor’s extensive record – compiled from years as a lawyer, prosecutor, district court judge, and appellate court judge – to better understand her legal approaches and judicial philosophy.
“This report provides an analysis of selected opinions authored by Judge Sotomayor during her tenure as a judge on the Second Circuit. Discussions of the selected opinions are groupedaccording to various topics of legal significance…”
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5 “Casual Conversations” : “Washington, D.C., July 1, 2009 – FBI special agents carried out 20 formal interviews and at least 5 “casual conversations” with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after his capture by U.S. troops in December 2003, according to secret FBI reports released as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests by the National Security Archive and posted today on the Web at www.nsarchive.org…”
Filed under: Uncategorized
Filed under: Uncategorized
