Available at Salon.com: Mark Benjamin has an essay entitled “The CIA’s favorite form of torture: If the Bush administration forces the CIA to drop ‘tough’ interrogation techniques like waterboarding, the agency will probably fall back on a brutal method that leaves no physical marks.”
And Jennifer Daskal has an essay entitled “The end of Bush’s kangaroo courts? The dismissal of two cases in Guantanamo Bay dealt a rightful blow to the administration’s quasi-justice system for alleged terrorists.”
“Segregating the Leaders from the Followers: Watch the GOP reactions to the Supreme Court school cases.” Edward Blum has this essay today at National Review Online.
“AP Motion Denied in Miami Terror Trial”: The AP provides a report that begins, “The judge in the federal trial of alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla refused Thursday to require that tapes of wiretapped phone calls and other audio evidence be released to journalists on the same day they are heard in court.”
“Carolinas in Legal Fight Over River”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “South Carolina’s attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to stop North Carolina from draining millions of gallons from a river that provides drinking water and electricity to both states.”
“The F Bomb: A local lawyer teams up with a California porn king to fight for your right to trademark dirty words.” This article appears in the current issue of Orlando Weekly (via “Meeting the Sin Laws“).
And somewhat relatedly, today in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, columnist Linda P. Campbell has an op-ed entitled “The F-word follies.”
“Court Decision Restricts Gun Sentences”: Joseph Goldstein has this article today in The New York Sun.
And law.com reports that “2nd Circuit Rejects Gun Sentence Outside Guidelines Range.”
My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Second Circuit ruling appears at this link.
“Judge to issue ruling Monday in 2003 consensual sex case”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains an article that begins, “Genarlow Wilson’s attorney appealed to a judge Wednesday to free the man from prison and throw out his conviction for receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.”
“Free Judges’ Pay”: New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye has this op-ed today in The New York Times.
“Judicial Speech Code: Opposing a nominee for words he never said.” The Wall Street Journal contains this editorial (free access) today.
The San Francisco Chronicle today contains an editorial entitled “Mississippi yearning.”
And Gannett News Service provides a news update headlined “Senate committee delays Southwick vote.”
“Defending Justice Thomas”: This editorial appears today in The New York Sun.
On today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition“: The broadcast contained audio segments entitled “Cheney Blocks DOJ Official’s Promotion: Document” and “Trial Lawyer Lerach May Step Down” (RealPlayer required).
This federal appellate judge may now be recused from deciding the case, but thankfully we don’t have to remain in suspense over how she intended to rule before the basis for recusal became known to her: Call me an old-fashioned fussbudget, if you must, but I long for the days when recused judges didn’t disclose how they would have voted on an appeal if they hadn’t been recused.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit today issued a decision in which a unanimous two-judge quorum joined. As for what happened to the third judge on the panel, footnote * explains, “The Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry participated in the oral argument and panel conference and joined in the decision on this case, but discovered facts causing her to recuse from this matter prior to filing of the Opinion. The remaining judges are unanimous in this decision, and this Opinion and Judgment are therefore being filed by a quorum of the panel.”
McClatchy Newspapers are reporting: Available online are articles headlined “E-mail questions if conservative group was party to plan to fire U.S. attorneys” and “Complaints abound over enforcement of voter registration law.”
“N.Y. Court Sides With DMV on Immigrants”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “New York has the right to deny driver’s licenses to people who can’t prove they are in the country legally, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.”
You can access today’s ruling of the New York State Court of Appeals at this link.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has launched a redesigned web site: You can access it by clicking here.
Back online: Overnight, this blog’s web host installed some new servers. As an unexpected consequence, access to “How Appealing” was disrupted. Please accept my apologies, and all should be back to normal now.
“Scooter Libby’s Sentence: While It Was Justifiable, a More Lenient Sentence Could Also Have Been Appropriate Under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.” Edward Lazarus has this essay online today at FindLaw.
