In a pair of entertaining posts, Grits for Breakfast takes on "judicial activism" at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, deriding a decision that overturned a police officer's conviction for tampering with evidence because the appellate court majority accepted a defense that the jury didn't buy: the officer who returned part of the marijuana he had seized from the arrestee so she could get high wasn't tampering with evidence (despite knowing that he was making the returned evidence unavailable for a criminal prosecution), but was merely trying to "create a snitch."

Really? It's come to this? Cops can distribute illegal dope so they can recruit informants to catch people distributing illegal dope? What, exactly, is the point of that?

And why, exactly, would a police officer believe that he's entitled to distribute an illegal drug with knowledge that the recipient will illegally use it, even if he thinks the distribution might induce the drug user to become a snitch?

Italia Federici was sentenced in federal court in Washington today to 2.5 months in a half-way house and four years probation for her role in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.

Why no prison? She's cooperating with the feds.

Italia Federici, who pleaded guilty in June to tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation, was spared prison only because she has become a key witness in the Justice Department's ongoing corruption investigation.

More....

It's our third snow storm of the week and I'm going to take a snow day. Here's a place for you to chat. All topics welcome. Some things to read:

• Kagro X at Daily Kos has a list of Bush vetoes.

• David Neiwert at Firedoglake on Civil Liberties and Terrorism.

• Eriposte at LeftCoaster's exhaustive reasons for why he's chosen his favorite Democratic candidate.

• The LA Times editorials, Liberty and Justice, examining the role of the President in matters of freedom and equal justice under the law.

  The next president must recognize that this nation is defined by its liberties. Personal freedom must not become collateral damage in the war on terror -- for if that occurs, we have lost it all.

• Clinton and Obama spar over negative campaigning (Des Moines Register.) Taylor Marsh points out some of Obama's and Edwards' campaigns' personal attacks.

Bobby Kennedy, Jr. compares Hillary Haters and the Roosevelts over at Huffington Post. He starts with how many had an irrational hatred of the Roosevelts and continues:

Hillary's supporters should be heartened by the fact that intense hatred is often accompanied by equally strong support. Roosevelt won four landslide victories against his opponents and crafted the architecture for the most humane, successful, generous features of modern American government.

They can also take comfort in Hillary's proven ability to transform intense hatred into loyal support. I recently toured upstate New York's traditionally Republican counties which she has transformed through leadership and political acumen, into rock solid Hillary Clinton strongholds.

Update: Also on HuffPo, Hillary's former Chief of Staff and another writer outline Hillary's foreign policy experience.

Update here.

Update: Harry Reid says debate on the bills will begin Monday.

There will be a vote on FISA today. The Senate will consider the Senate Intelligence Committee's bill, S.2440, minus its provision calling for telecom immunity, and S. 2441, the Senate Judiciary Committee's bill, which has no immunity provision, but is somewhat better on wiretapping. The ACLU says,

"Another way to think of it: S 2440 is good on immunity and bad on wiretapping while S. 2441 is bad on immunity but good on wiretapping. It looks as though Senator Reid has created two little FISA Frankensteins."

[Edit: I assume the ACLU means the two provisions of S 2440 that will be taken up. It does have another provision calling for immunity. Reid's statement later today indicates he's changed his mind and will now have the Senate consider the entire House Intel bill, including the provision with immunity.]

The ACLU is asking Senators to participate in the Dodd Filibuster and prevent the passage of any bill that includes immunity.

"Senator Reid is forcing senators to trade the Fourth Amendment to avoid immunity or to give immunity in order to protect Fourth Amendment rights. The ACLU, on behalf its members across this country, asks that he bring the Judiciary Committee’s FISA bill to the floor -- without immunity for companies that broke the law," said Fredrickson.

If nothing gets passed, or if Bush vetos a new bill, it's not the end of the world. The Protect America Act, hastily passed before Congress recessed in August, has a 180 day expiration date, which is February. Then again, the Patriot Act had sunsets and look what happened there.

We don't need another end-run around the Fourth Amendment. [more....]

The House of Representatives today passed a bill outlawing harsh interrogation methods.

The measure, approved by a largely party-line vote of 222 to 199, would require U.S. intelligence agencies to follow Army rules adopted last year that explicitly forbid waterboarding and require interrogators to adhere to a strict interpretation of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war. The rules, required by Congress for all Defense Department personnel, also ban sexual humiliation, "mock" executions and the use of attack dogs, and prohibit the withholding of food and medical care.

President Bush said he'd veto the bill, which now goes to the Senate. In related news, the ACLU wrote the Senate today (letter here, pdf)listing ten reasons why a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes.

It's a done deal. The New Jersey House joined the state senate and today voted to abolish the death penalty. Gov. Corzine has already said he'll sign the bill into law.

New Jersey will become the first state in four decades to abolish the death penalty ....A special state commission found in January that the death penalty was a more expensive sentence than life in prison, hasn't deterred murder and risks killing an innocent person.

The eight men on New Jersey's death row will have their sentences changed to life without parole.

Congress is going to hold hearings on the Mitchell Report.

Jim Parque denies the charges. So does Roger Clemens.

Lawyer Rusty Hardin told reporters Clemens had never tested positive for steroids and was being falsely accused by a former trainer who feared federal prosecution. "Roger Clemens adamantly, vehemently or whatever adjective can be used, denies he has ever used steroids or whatever the word is for improper substance," said Hardin, a prominent defense attorney in Houston, where Clemens lives.

"There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today," he said.

More...

Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign advisor Bill Shaheen resigned today after yesterday's ill-advised and unauthorized comments about Barack Obama's drug use.

Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman for Clinton and a prominent New Hampshire political figure, had raised the issue of Obama's youthful drug use during a Wednesday interview, published on washingtonpost.com.

"I made a mistake and in light of what happened, I have made the personal decision that I will step down as the co-chair of the Hillary for President campaign," Shaheen said in a statement released by the campaign Thursday. "This election is too important, and we must all get back to electing the best qualified candidate who has the record of making change happen in this country. That candidate is Hillary Clinton."

Hillary apologized to Barack Obama today on the tarmac as they waited for a plane from D.C. to Iowa for the debate.

It was an unfortunate, regrettable incident. There's no room for these kind of errors this late in the game. Shaheen did the right thing by resigning.

In a "stinging defeat" for the Bush Administration, the judge in Florida's Liberty City Seven-Sears Tower terror trial finally declared a mistrial today after jurors were still deadlocked after nine days of deliberation. They were deadlocked since day four but she made them keep deliberating. One defendant was acquitted on all counts, the jury couldn't reach a verdict on the others.

The defense portrayed the seven men as hapless figures who were either manipulated and entrapped by the FBI or went along with the plot to con "Mohammed" out of $50,000. The group never actually made contact with al-Qaida and never acquired any weapons or explosives. Prosecutors said no attack was imminent, acknowledging that the alleged terror cell was "more aspirational than operational."

But then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said after the arrests in mid-2006 that the group was emblematic of the "smaller, more loosely defined cells who are not affiliated with al-Qaida, but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message."

Let's hope it's a lesson to the FBI that they can't just send out informants to create crime plots and entrap people not otherwise predisposed into signing on.

Update: Time Magazine has a lengthy article calling it a Grade B Movie Trial.

Bump and Update: Live-Updates on Democrats debate here:

Last question: What do you carry away from Iowa? All give moving, personal statements. Richardson is funny. This was a nice ending touch, they all seemed so human and humble. (The only one who lacked emotion in his response was Obama, but maybe that's not his thing, I don't mean it as a criticism, just an observation.) This was the best, most real part of the debate. If you get to watch a recap, just watch the last two minutes.

There were no bombshells, no fights, no digs at each other. In fact, they supported each other. Hillary changed her message a bit, moving from her experience to how hard she will work as President. While she focused on change, I don't think this began today. She just usually blends her experience in with change and didn't do that much today. Obama doesn't own the change theme in my opinion. Edwards has used it from the beginning too. Obama's original themes were hope and optimism -- themes Chris Dodd emphasized today. Biden's theme today was action. Signing off now, typos will be fixed later.

****

What is your New Year's resolution? Clinton: On a personal level: Spending time with my family, exercise. Run the best campaign she can and go into white house with support of American people behind her. Edwards: No child will go to bed hungry. No family will go to emergency room and beg for health care. Dodd: Regain moral authority in world, optimism. Spend time with family. And wish that Iowans caucus correctly on Jan. 3. Richardson: Lose weight, same as every year. End the dysfunctional relationship between Congress and the President. End torture. Stay positive. Biden: Remember where you came from. Obama: Be a better father and husband. Remember this is not about me. Not get distorted by fears of losing. My participation needs to have an impact on others besides me.

More....

It's not just the poor who get hit with penalties over our immigration policy. Bianca Jagger, anti-death penalty and human rights activist, just got hit with eviction from her New York City apartment because of it.

Bianca rented the apartment for 20 years. She battled the landlord the past several of them, since she sued him for mold damage. The court has ruled against her and appeals are over. The Sheriff came to move her things to storage. The reason:

[The landlord] argued that the 18th-floor apartment couldn't be Jagger's primary residence — a requirement for occupying a rent-stabilized unit — since she was in the U.S. on a tourist visa that required her to show that she intended to leave after a temporary stay. The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division agreed in October, noting that Jagger, who is a British citizen, keeps at least one luxury apartment in London.