by TChris

TalkLeft has frequently written about Wilton Dedge, the wrongfully convicted Florida man who spent 22 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. While Florida recently compensated Dedge for his unjust imprisonment, his story shouldn't end there. Florida Today continues to call for an investigation of the official misconduct that caused such a miscarriage of justice.

What should come next is an outside investigation of how Brevard County prosecutors in the state attorney's office used jailhouse snitch, murderer and recently convicted child-rapist Clarence Zacke to help keep Dedge behind bars.

by TChris

A report released today by Amnesty International asks whether current constitutional caselaw is adequate to safeguard the mentally ill from execution. If it is categorically wrong to execute children or the severely retarded, is the execution of a mentally ill convict consistent with contemporary standards of decency?

If the diminished culpability associated with youth and mental retardation render the death penalty an excessive punishment when used against offenders from those categories, what about people suffering from serious mental illness or impairment other than retardation, such as serious brain damage, at the time of the crime? Should they not also be ineligible for execution?

The question is made timely by the large percentage of mentally ill offenders on death row and by the criminal justice system's emphasis on punishment, rather than treatment, of the mentally ill. Yet judges too frequently discern no constitutional barrier to killing the mentally ill.

Good news. The 9th Circuit today became the second circuit to declare the partial birth abortion bill unconsitutional.

A federal appeals court declared the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional Tuesday, saying the measure is vague and lacks an exception for cases in which a woman's health is at stake. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the second federal appeals court in the country to hold the law to be unconstitutional.

The bad news: When it reaches the Supreme Court, Judge Alito will be a sitting Justice.

You've heard of "no-call" lists to keep telemarketers at bay. Now you can sign up for a "no-spy" list, courtesy of ProgressNow Action.

If you have found little to laugh about over President Bush's illegal domestic spying program, turn up your speakers and click here to watch ProgressTV's 2 minute Bush Spy Video. Then take action to protect your privacy.

Over 50 million American citizens in twenty-eight states already are signed on to telephone "No-Call Lists" that protect them from unwanted telemarketing calls. But when it comes to protecting ourselves from being spied on by President Bush and the National Security Agency we have no protections.

Until Now. To ask for protection from unwanted domestic eavesdropping, click this form to sign up for the No-Spy List:

Three cheers for the little guy. In this case, Brandeis University library director Kathy Glick-Weil, who refused to turn over 30 computers to the FBI because they didn't have a warrant. And the mayor, who backed her up.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents tried to seize 30 of the library's computers without a warrant, saying someone had used the library's Internet connection to send the threat to Brandeis.

After the refusal, the FBI did what they should have done in the first instance: they went to a judge and got a warrant.

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

The Oscar nominations came out today. Brokeback Mountain got 8 nominations, the most of any film. If you're a fan of the film, check out Dave Cullen's Brokeback Mountain Guide and forums.

Also nominated for best picture were the Truman Capote story "Capote"; the ensemble drama "Crash"; the Edward R. Murrow chronicle "Good Night, and Good Luck"; and the assassination thriller "Munich."

George Clooney got three nominations.

[for] supporting actor for his role as a steadfast CIA undercover agent in "Syriana" and best director and co-writer for "Good Night."

President Bush will give his State of the Union Address tonight. His approval rating hovers at 39%, no change from last month, according to the latest WSJ-NBC poll. The two most important issues to voters are health care and getting out of Iraq.

If you're not by a tv, the State Department will have live audio feeds of the State of the Union address on its Web site in English, Arabic, Farsi, Bahasa Indonesian, Spanish, French and Russian.

That won't help me since I'll be on an airplane, but I'm sure I'll catch the re-run.

[Graphic created exclusively for TalkLeft by CL.]

Judge Sam Alito has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. The vote was 58 to 42. The only confirmed justice to receive fewer favorable votes was Clarence Thomas.

In an e-mail, People for the American Way states that SavetheCourt generated 600,000 faxes and e-mails to Senators in just the past several days.

In my Scoring Scotus column today at Altercation, I talk about the impact that efforts by bloggers and activists had on the Democratic leadership, and what it portends for 2006 and 2008.

In his floor comments opposing Alito today, Senator Harry Reid lamented the rejection of Harriet Miers and blamed the radical right. I agree with him. Miers would have been far preferable to Alito. And she never even got to have a hearing, much less an up or down vote. (no link yet, received by e-mail.)

Tom Coughlin, a protege of Sam Walton, pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion today in federal court and faces up to 28 years in prison.

Coughlin admitted stealing money, gift cards and store merchandise for his personal use. His acts were discovered by Wal-Mart lawyers who turned him in to the feds.

by TChris

From time to time, laws are proposed (and sometimes enacted) that prohibit drivers from talking on cell phones while they drive. Never mind that talking on a cell phone is no more distracting than fiddling with the radio or typing addresses into a GPS navigation system, or pushing the dog away or arguing with a passenger. Laws against unsafe driving (reckless or inattentive driving) already address cell phone usage (as well as any other distraction) that actually prevents an individual driver from driving safely.

Calls for cell phone bans are fueled by stories like this one, where a 19 year old was arrested for reckless homicide because he struck a child while -- according to initial reports -- he was text messaging a friend. When the truth finally replaced hysteria, it turned out that the driver finished text messaging about a minute before the accident. And it appears that the child fell or moved back into the path of the car, after successfully crossing the street, in response to the shouting of his uncle's girlfriend. Despite the outrage of the understandably upset relatives of the child, there's no basis for their criticism of a grand jury that refused to charge the driver with a crime. And there's no need for laws that categorically prohibit drivers from using their cell phones.

Coretta Scott King has died. May she rest in peace. Firedoglake has a nice tribute.

Sen. Russ Feingold Monday charged that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales misled the Judiciary Committee at his Senate confirmation hearing on January 6, 2005, when repsonding to questions about the President's authority to order warrantless surveillance. [link fixed]

In a letter to the attorney general yesterday, Feingold demanded to know why Gonzales dismissed the senator's question about warrantless eavesdropping as a "hypothetical situation" during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2005. At the hearing, Feingold asked Gonzales where the president's authority ends and whether Gonzales believed the president could, for example, act in contravention of existing criminal laws and spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant.

Let's go to the transcript: (Panel I, afternoon transcript of January 6, 2005, available on Lexis.com)