by TChris

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear Salim Ahmed Hamdan's plea for federal court review of his indefinite detention as an enemy combatant. TalkLeft background regarding Hamdan's case is collected in this post. Linda Greenhouse previews the arguments here.

Before the Court considers whether Hamdan is entitled to habeas corpus relief, it must decide whether it has jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's case. As TalkLeft predicted here, the Bush administration is arguing that the Detainee Treatment Act stripped the Court's ability to hear requests for relief from Guantanamo detainees -- including those, like Hamdan, who filed a petition before the DTA took effect.

Having participated in the Fourth D.C. Circuit's resolution of Hamdan's appeal, Chief Justice Roberts recused himself, raising the possibility of a 4-4 tie. Greenhouse asks an intriguing question: does a tie favor the exercise or the loss of jurisdiction?

Crooks and Liars has the video and the transcript of Markos of Daily Kos on Reliable Sources. Great job, M. He talked about the impact of political bloggers and the embroglio over Washington Post's three day blogger, Ben Domenech.

As for Domenech, the NRO has been investigating other pieces he wrote (all prior to 2002) and finds more unusual similarities.

by TChris

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel takes on Wisconsin's Jim Sensenbrenner, who wants to take away the sentencing discretion that the Supreme Court handed to federal judges with the Booker decision:

He mustn't. The old system straitjacketed judges too much, such as Utah's U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell, known as a hard-line conservative. He lamented from the bench that he had no choice but to put a first-time offender in prison for 55 years for dealing marijuana. Justice demands that judges be allowed to exercise discretion. Otherwise, you may as well replace him or her with a computer program.

The Journal Sentinel recognizes that judicial discretion is an essential balance to prosecutorial discretion.

by TChris

The Justice Policy Institute released a report (pdf) that explores the impact of "drug free zones" on racial disparity in the criminal justice system. This recap is from the Drug Policy Alliance, which commissioned the report:

Although intended to provide a safe haven for youth, drug-free zone laws do not deter drug activity within prohibited zones. While not achieving the intended goals, these laws contribute to unacceptably high levels of racial disparity in the use of incarceration and subject people of color to stiffer punishment than whites engaged in similar conduct. Several states are considering proposals to either eliminate or narrow the scope of the drug-free zone laws, in order to enhance public safety and minimize unintended consequences.

by TChris

Chuck Plinton killed himself after he was kicked out of the University of Akron for drug dealing. The case was built on the word of a paid informant and on a police officer's belated claim that Plinton had provided an unrecorded confession. Plinton's tragic story illustrates the danger of relying on paid snitches.

The informant, Richard Dale Harris, 35, was a career criminal and a paid operative of the Summit County Police Department. Among the long list of people he had fingered was his own sister. He claims he ratted on her to save her children from her.

The police paid Harris $50 for every drug buy he claimed to make. He told the police he'd purchased from Plinton twice, but Plinton's work records at the University showed that he was signed in at his job on the other side of the campus when the buys allegedly occurred.

by TChris

The Washington Post tells us that U.S. Family Network, a nonprofit "created to promote a pro-family political agenda in Congress," has instead promoted the financial interests of Edwin and Wendy Buckham, who pocketed more than a third of the organization's receipts. Edwin Buckham helped found the organization while he was working as Tom DeLay's chief of staff. Is anyone surprised that Jack Abramoff plays a key role in the story?

The group's revenue was drawn mostly from clients of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to its records. From an FBI subpoena for the records, it can be inferred that the bureau is exploring whether there were links between the payments and favorable legislative treatment of Abramoff's clients by DeLay's office. ... The group appears to have served mostly as a vehicle for funneling corporate funds to DeLay's advisers and financing ads that attacked Democrats.

Edwin and Wendy paid more than $3,000 a month to DeLay's wife over a three year period. Abramoff's clients understood that pleasing the Buckhams would please DeLay.

Our sincere condolences to Senator Robert Byrd.

Emma Byrd died Saturday after a long illness. The Byrds were married 69 years. She was 88.

"Erma and I are complete and whole, a total that is more than the sum of its parts," Byrd said of his wife on their 65th wedding anniversary in 2002. "In my life, Erma Ora Byrd is the diamond. She is a priceless treasure, a multifaceted woman of great insight and wisdom, of quiet humor and common sense."

Emma Byrd, may you rest in peace.

I've got miles to go before I blog today, so here's a round-up and space to discuss. Tomorrow the Senate begins debating dastardly changes to our immigration laws. We are a nation of immigrants and it would be great if every blogger wrote a post today or tomorrow about how their ancesters, grandparents or parents, whatever the case may be, got here. We could get a great meme going on this, especially if readers added their stories in the comments. I intend to write mine tonight -- I'm going to the office to now to try and locate a picture of my great-grandfather.

Ok, first news, then blogs:

News:

• Former Gov. George Ryan's corruption trial is in jeopardy - two jurors hid criminal backgrounds
• Tom Trancredo's move from House pest to cultist
• Scalia speaks in Switzerland: Detainees have no rights. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Hamden case Tuesday.
• Medical marijuana returns to the 9th Circuit Monday
• Killing and Torture in Baghdad

Both the AP and the LA Times are reporting that today's pro-immigrant march in Los Angeles turned out 500.000 people.

Saturday's march was among the largest for any cause in recent U.S. history. Police came up with the crowd estimate using aerial photographs and other techniques, police Cmdr. Louis Gray Jr. said.

...."Enough is enough of the xenophobic movement," said Norman Martinez, 63, who immigrated from Honduras as a child and marched in Los Angeles. "They are picking on the weakest link in society, which has built this country."

Bump and Update: The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin debating the Senate version of H.R. 4437 on Monday. It has already passed the House.

Update: From Common Dreams:

Apparently drowned out by the shrill charges and counter-charges in the immigration debate is a simple truth articulated by George Hunsinger, McCord professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and coordinator of Church Folks for a Better America. He told us,

"No human being -- whether citizen or non-citizen -- should be placed outside the protections of the law. No one who performs needed work should be denied fair wages and decent conditions. A society that exploits immigrants for their labor while declaring them illegal is caught in a tangle of contradictions."

Update: (3/25) Barbara Boxer slams the bill:

"It's anti-faith based,'' Boxer said. "It's inhumane. Sensenbrenner is inhumane.''

More details on the bill are available from the ACLU here and here. As for what's wrong with employment verification programs, the ACLU explains here.

If you haven't yet voted in the Koufax Liberal Blogging awards, please do. Voting ends Sunday. (Remember, you can only vote once in each category.)

TalkLeft has won the Best Single Issue Blog category the past three years, but this year we have the most competititon ever. Most of our supporters vote by e-mail, rather than leaving their vote in the comments here, but you can do either.

You can e-mail your vote directly to Wampum by clicking here and hitting your send button. (If that doesn't work, try this and put "koufax" in the subject line and "Talkleft for best single issue blog" in the body.)

by TChris

Death penalty opponents have no reason to be heartened by the Supreme Court's announcement that it will rehear argument in Kansas v. Marsh so that Justice Alito can break a tie vote. The issue in Marsh is the facial validity of a statute that requires a jury to vote for death when the aggravating and mitigating factors are equally balanced.