A judge in Montana has ruled doctor-assisted end of life choices are legal.

In her ruling, Judge McCarter wrote that “the Montana constitutional rights of individual privacy and human dignity” give a mentally competent person who is terminally ill the right to “die with dignity.”

The ruling said that those patients had the right to obtain self-administered medications to hasten death if they found their suffering to be unbearable, and that physicians could prescribe such medication without fear of prosecution.

It's hard to fathom anyone would challenge such a basic human right, but the state is expected to appeal.

The Washington Post has a four-page article today on the detainees at American prisons in Iraq. While conditions may have improved from the days of Abu Ghraib abuses, the likelihood of receiving due process apparently has not.

Here's one example: Talib Mohammed Farkhan, who was held for 15 months before being told the reasons for his detention. He learned them at his first hearing. Here's what happened:

[He]shuffled into Hearing Room 3 to hear his U.S. captors explain the allegations against him for the first time.

Farkhan, a Shiite Muslim, appeared to follow along as the American officers said he had been detained for membership in the Mahdi Army, the anti-American Shiite militia. But he looked totally baffled when they also accused him of working with al-Qaeda in Iraq, the extremist Sunni Muslim group that kills Americans and Shiites.

"I don't understand how that could be possible," said a visibly flustered Farkhan, a welder from the southern city of Iskandariyah, who denied all the accusations. "They are Sunni. I am Shia."

[More...]

The chief judge of New York's highest court, Judith Kaye, is retiring at the end of the month. The commission charged with nominating candidates to replace her deserves the criticism it has received from Gov. David Paterson, who makes the final selection from the nominees, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

The seven candidates offered by the Commission on Judicial Nomination include no women and only one minority.

Did the Commission really believe that white males make the best chief judges -- to the exclusion of all females?

"I've really got to wonder how this group would feel comfortable sending a list forward and not one of them represents half of the human race," Paterson said.

[more ...]

A prosecutor's lie to a Nevada jury may have influenced its decision to impose the death penalty on Ricky Sechrest.

The prosecutor "misled the jurors to believe that if they did not impose the death penalty, Sechrest could be released on parole and would kill again," the court said, adding that the trial judge "did nothing to stop the prosecutor from making these erroneous assertions."

Apparently the defense attorney, whose representation was judged inadequate in other respects, also did nothing to correct the lie. The court of appeals vacated the death sentence, giving Nevada the choice of accepting a lesser sentence or bringing a new death penalty proceeding. If it chooses the latter, let's hope it plays by the rules this time.

This week's radio address/podcast from the President-Elect:

Ball State saw its dream of an undefeated season ended last night when the Turner Gill-coached Univ. of Buffalo Bulls beat David Letterman's alma mater 42-24. So much for the battle of unbeatens between Ball State and Boise State.

As you may know, today is a big day in college football. BC meets Virginia Tech in Tampa for the ACC Championship at 1:00 pm. With a win over Missouri in the Big 12 Championship game in Kansas City tonight, Oklahoma will advance to the BCS championship game. In other games, a USC win over UCLA (playing at the Rose Bowl) this afternoon puts them in the Rose Bowl against Penn State, and Pitt meets UConn (both teams are headed to minor bowls.) The United States Military Academy, located in beautiful West Point, NY (Army) meets the United States Naval Academy, located in beautiful Annapolis, Maryland (Navy) in Philadelphia, PA at noon today.

The SEC Championship game is today at 4. The #1 ranked Crimson Tide of Alabama face the #4 ranked Fighting Florida Gators. Injuries are an issue for the Gators, especially with star all purpose player Percy Harvin a game time decision. It should be a great game.

Go Gators!! This is an Open Thread.

Call it a rescue plan, call it a loan, call it a bailout: can we call it a done deal?

Democratic leaders in Congress and the White House will meet again on Saturday to negotiate a rescue plan to help U.S. automakers, a congressional source told Reuters on Friday.

Nancy Pelosi abandoned her objection to using an existing $25 billion advanced technology fund to help pay for the bailout rescue plan loan. She conditioned her compromise on "a guarantee that those funds will be replenished in a matter of weeks” to avoid delaying the development of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Congress needs to provide oversight and assure accountability, but do we really need a car czar? Can we at least get rid of the drug czar to preserve a proper balance of czardoms? [more ...]

The evidence against Joshua Kezer was weak. No physical evidence connected him to the murder of Angela Lawless.

Key prosecution evidence included the trial testimony of Mark Abbott, who claimed he saw Kezer near the Interstate 55 off-ramp where Lawless' body was found. However, in an interview with Scott City police 10 days after Lawless' death, Abbott had identified a different man as being near the crime scene.

Kezer's defense lawyer wasn't told about Abbott's change of story. The other witnesses against Kezer had everything to gain by implicating him.
Update: Be sure to read Jeralyn's comment. [more ...]

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Ali Saleh Kahlan al Marri, a U.S. legal resident originally from Qatar who has been held since 2001 in the Navy Brig in South Carolina. He was seized in Peoria, Ill.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond ruled in July that the president had the power to detain Marri under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force enacted by Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. But the court also said he could challenge his designation as an enemy combatant before a district court in South Carolina.

The question: Can the military indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen or legal resident seized on American soil? Background on 4th Circuit decision here. The ACLU has more on today's Court action.

Your daily dose of non-news on Percy Harvin. Nothing new on Florida all purpose star Percy Harvin's status for the SEC championship game. We'll have to wait until 4 pm Saturday to find out it looks like.

This is an Open Thread.

Update: (TL) If you haven't voted yet for the ABA's Top 100 Law Blogs, please go over and vote for us. It takes less than five seconds. Thanks!

Obama will have a choice: He can give the Left what it wants and weaken our defenses. Or he can follow the advice of his more prudent advisers, recognize that Congress, the courts, and officials including Attorney General Michael Mukasey have already moved to end the worst Bush administration abuses — and kick the hard Left gently in the teeth. I’m betting that Obama is smart and tough enough to do the latter.

The advisor to watch on this is Cass Sunstein, who is no doubt advising Obama to do precisely what Taylor wants. Yglesias is "stunned" to read this from Taylor - I have no idea why, Taylor has always defended Bush abuses. Will he be stunned to learn that Obama advisor Sunstein has defended Bush abuses too?

Speaking for me only

Update: Bail pending appeal denied. The sentence:

Count 1: 1 year county jail; Count 2: 12 - 48 mos, concurrent with count1; Count 3: 12 - 48 mos concurrent with counts 1 and 2; Count 4: 26 mos to 120 mos; Count 5: 15 years, parole eligibility after 5 yrs, consecutive 12 - 72 mos; Count 6: 15 years, parole eligibility after 5 yrs, consecutive 12 - 72 mos, concurrent with count 5; Count 7: 60 - 180 mos, consecutive 12-72 months; Count 8: 60 - 180 mos, consecutive 12-72 months, concurrent with count 7; Count 9: 18 - 72 mos, consecutive to ct 8; Count 10: 18 - 72 mos, consecutive to ct 9.

How much time did he get? At first glance, it looks to me like he has to do at least 6 years on counts 1 through through 8, and then two additional sentences of 1.5 to 6 years each on counts 9 and 10, meaning a minimum of 6 + 3 (1.5 + 1.5) for a total minimum of 9 years. [Update: The LA Times and Las Vegas Sun come up with the same 9 year calculation I did.] [More...]