California Attorney General Jerry Brown reversed course today and asked the California Supreme Court to find Prop 8 unconstitutional.

Brown, who is required to defend state laws unless he cannot find reasonable legal grounds to do so, said after Prop. 8 passed Nov. 4 that he would support the initiative before the state's high court.

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said. The authors of the state Constitution, he said, did not intend "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a popular vote."

The pro-Prop 8 group filed its brief today as well. Their chief counsel? Kenneth Starr.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich issued 22 pardons today.

One went to Marcus Lyons, who served three years in prison before DNA established his innocence.

The "pardon based on innocence" allows Lyons to apply for around $85,000 in compensation for the three years he served, said his attorney, Jane Raley, of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law.

But perhaps more importantly, she said, "it begins to address the enormous suffering he's endured."

Update: The spokeswoman for the Alaska Troopers says the drug involved is OxyContin. The prosecutor hasn't even seen the paperwork yet.

*****

In the "you can't make this stuff up" department, Sherry Johnston, soon-to-be grandmother to Bristol Palin's as yet unborn child, was busted at her home yesterday and charged with six felony drug counts.

Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath.

Gawker says it sounds like a meth lab.[More...]

Ed Gensen, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's lawyer, can't be happy that his client is going to make a public statement today, but it seems like Blagojevich is just itching to defend himself in the court of public opinion.

“I can’t wait to begin to tell my side of the story and to address you guys and, most importantly, the people of Illinois. That’s who I’m dying to talk to,” he said. “There’s a time and place for everything. That day will soon be here and you might know more about that today, maybe no later than tomorrow.”

No one will be listening more intently than the prosecutors in Fitzgerald's office.

As a general rule, defense lawyers hate it when their clients insist on talking to the media. Our prisons are filled with people who thought if they could only tell their side of the story, the cops would see it their way. It rarely happens.

This morning, Al Franken took the lead in the MN Senate race for the first time. He's ahead a few hundred votes. Counting may be done this evening.

A snowstorm is expected here in New York. How's the weather where you are? This is an Open Thread.

BTW, Franken moves into the lead in the Minnesota Senate race.

Politico asks:

Should the DOJ consider prosecuting Bush administration officials for detainee abuse as the NYT and others have urged?

Republican talking head Brad Blakeman answers:

I would rather see the New York Times prosecuted for their constant and continued abuse of the First Amendment. Their treasonous behavior on almost a daily basis is far more damaging to our country than anything a Bush Administration official past or present is alleged.

This is one of the Serious People of the Washington Establishment. That is why so much went wrong and so much wrong was done in the past 8 years - because people like Brad Blakeman are taken seriously while people who ask that the rule of law be upheld are considered DFHs.

Speaking for me only

Happy Birthday, Keith. Here's a great photo tribute, set to "Sister Morphine."

And a more fun one, set to Johnny B. Goode:

How about Keith and Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams singing Dead Flowers? Or, since it's his birthday, here's Keith and Sheryl Crow singing Happy. Or, since it's almost Christmas, how about Run, Rudolph, Run?

• Des Moines businesswoman Phyllis Davis died in the cross-fire of a gang-related shootout between the occupants of two vehicles in 1996. One of the vehicles matched a distinctive SUV that David Flores owned. Via the Des Moines Register, Flores makes a strong argument that he was wrongly convicted of killing Davis.

[N]o murder weapon, no fingerprints and no eyewitnesses ever placed him at the scene. During Flores' controversial trial, four witnesses - including three for the prosecution - testified that a black man, not a light-skinned Hispanic like Flores, was in the SUV from which prosecutors believed the fatal bullet was fired.

This year, the judge in Flores' post-conviction case learned a newly discovered FBI report from 1996 shows another man, Rafael Robinson, might have been involved in Davis' death. At least two people also agreed to testify in sworn depositions that Robinson, a gang member who was also fatally shot in 1996, was the man witnesses saw in the SUV that day.

[more ...]

and do what they do. Kos remembers this critical point:

Obama wouldn't be out there making perhaps the strongest statement in support of gays and lesbians by a president (though he's still not technically one, I know) if it wasn't for the sturm and drang this choice generated. It is precisely this backlash that has forced Obama to clearly affirm his commitment to equality. And it will be continued pressure that will force him to do the right thing on the issue. If we shut up, he'll take the path of least resistance. And that path of least resistance is kowtowing to the conservative media, the clueless punditocracy, and bigots like Warren.

Emphasis mine. Speaking for me only

Voting is still open in the ABA Journal's top 100 law blogs for 2008. TalkLeft was fortunate to be nominated for the second year in a row. We were ahead a few weeks ago, but we've fallen behind.

It takes less than five seconds to vote, so if you enjoy Talkleft, please go here and vote for us.

Thanks, everyone! And this is an open thread.

From the time Sen. Barack Obama announced his candidacy, I wrote and wrote about his record on criminal justice issues, particularly with respect to our drug laws. I didn't like what I learned and said so repeatedly. While his policy positions and Hillary's were quite similar, the difference between them, I thought, was that he had spent a lot of time thinking about these issues and legislating on them as a state senator in Illinois. I felt, rightly or wrongly, that we least had a chance with Hillary to convince her on a few points since she hadn't paid a great deal of attention to these issues in the past, either as First Lady or as Senator. She'd be more of a blank slate. Of course, that's all water under the bridge. I only mention it because readers are bound to respond with, "Well Hillary wouldn't have been any better." It's beside the point.

On his website, Change.gov, Obama asked readers to ask a question about the policy change most important to them. The results: the number one question among 7,000 policy topics raised was legalization of marijuana. His response: No way. [More...]