Martha Stewart is probably very glad tonight jail is behind her. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld her convictions for conspiracy, concealing material information from and making false statements to government officials, and obstructing an agency proceeding. At last, it's over, except for being on supervised release, which is similar to parole. I'm sure she thinks it's no walk in the park, and she's right, but it's a lot better than being on an ankle monitor or in prison.

The text of the opinion is here. .

Tom DeLay's chances of recapturing his House leadership position dropped dramatically today when several Republicans in the House asked for new elections to be held promptly.

"It's clear that we need to elect a new majority leader to restore the trust and confidence of the American people," said Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota, as two fellow Republicans circulated a petition calling for new elections.

Who's on tap?

Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who took over as majority leader temporarily when DeLay stepped aside following his indictment on state charges, is certain to run for the post if new elections are held. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, a former member of the leadership, is his likeliest rival, and there may be other contenders as well.

by TChris

The State of New Jersey is poised to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.

New Jersey would block executions while a panel examined death penalty-related issues and for two months after the panel issued its report. The process would take about a year.

The state senate passed a bill to suspend executions pending the study, and the state assembly is likely to pass it on Monday. The acting governor, Richard Codey, said he’ll sign the law.

by TChris

How reliable is fingerprint evidence? Ask Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon lawyer who was arrested and detained as a material witness for two weeks after the FBI concluded that his fingerprints matched fingerprints found at the site of a train bombing in Spain. The Justice Department’s inspector general recently concluded that the fingerprints were “unusually similar” and that FBI lab technicians were “overly confident” of the match. (TalkLeft background on Mayfield is collected here. More information about the uncertain science of fingerprint comparison can be found in this post, and in this one.)

The inspector general also concluded that there was “no abuse of the USA Patriot Act” in Mayfield’s case, a conclusion that depends on the definition of “abuse.” As TalkLeft reported here and here, “sneak and peek” warrants were issued that permitted Mayfield’s property to be searched without his knowledge. That probably seems abusive to Mayfield, the innocent victim of the FBI’s intrusion. And the FBI's "overconfidence," which permitted it to disregard warnings from Spanish authorities that the prints didn't match, make the decision to subject Mayfield to the sneak and peek searches permitted by the Patriot Act seem even more abusive.

It's in the high '60's in Denver today. The outside beckons. Here's a thread for you.

Nevada Senator and Minority Leader Harry Reid is calling for the resignation of HSA Chief Michael Chertoff.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called for the resignation of Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday, one day after the government dropped Las Vegas from a list of cities considered potential high-risk targets eligible for special anti-terrorism grants.

Reid, D-Nev., joins Clark County Sheriff Bill Young in calling for Chertoff to step down as a result of the decision jeopardizing millions in additional federal funding that Nevada currently receives as a result of being considered a potential terrorist target.

Here's Chertoff's explanation:

Chertoff defended the scaled-back approach as one that focuses federal grants on those areas most needing to make preparations, with the 35 locations decided by 3.2 billion calculations aimed at determining regions most susceptible to terrorism.

The ever-blunt Sen. Reid had one more complaint: "He did a lousy job on Katrina."

It's hard to quibble with that one. And yes, I agree with Reid that Nevada fund should not have been cut.

You won't believe what this guy has to do for his roadside sobriety test. The video is laugh-out loud funny. 21:17:34 is where I just cracked up and laughed for the rest of the way through. [Via Crim Prof Blog.]

First Jane, then John at Crooks and Liars. Crooks and Liars got a Wal-Mart rep on the phone. Wal-Mart responds personally to Jane and issues a public apology. The Washington Post reports how Jane and Crooks and Liars broke the story.

John at AmericaBlog thinks it was a bona fide error. Steve Gilliard does not.

My take: It was not an intentional act by Wal-Mart. I think it was programmed into a black film category by a lone sick employee and Wal-Mart should track the perp down and fire his or her a**.

“An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have.”
- Roger Coleman’s last words before he was executed by the state of Virginia May 20, 1992

Roger Coleman was executed in Virginia in 1992 (background here.) Today, Governor Mark Warner ordered DNA tests in his case. If Coleman is innocent, it will be the first documented case of the execution of an innocent person in the United States. The first, but probably not the only one.

This was not a sudden decision on the part of Gov. Warner. He's been sitting on the request for years. In 2003, Leonard Pitts at the Miami Herald wrote Death Penalty an Error Free Myth :

The Guardian reports that doctors rule out a return to office for Arial Sharon, should he survive.

Ariel Sharon's political career was at an end last night as he remained on life support after hours of surgery to stop "massive and widespread" bleeding in his brain. Political leaders publicly offered statements of support for Mr Sharon, but there was a growing acceptance that, even if he were to survive, the 77-year-old former general would not return to office. Doctors said the Israeli prime minister would struggle to recover from the stroke.

The Guardian's Jonathan Spyer says Sharon will leave "The Biggest Shoes to Fill."

As world leaders react to the health crisis of Ariel Sharon, the New York Times analyzes the hurdles ahead for Kadima, his new and centrist party. The main question seems to be, is Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert up to the task of replacing him?

Miami defense lawyer David Markus was in court today during Jose Padilla's court appearance.

The case was continued until tomorrow at 4pm so Padilla's New York lawyers could be present.

The Financial Times reports today that the U.S. is planning to build a high-security prison in Afghanistan to which it will transfer an unknown number of Guantanamo detainees.

The site selected for the jail is Pol-e-Charki, a rundown prison near Kabul dating from the Soviet era. Some of the base’s prison facilities have recently been refurbished as part of a European Union-financed criminal justice reform programme backed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The transfer of prisoners of Afghan origin from Guantánamo to Afghanistan is intended to take pressure off the US administration, which continues to face strong international criticism for holding detainees without trial or other legal recourse.

So they can be tortured in an Afghan-run, U.S. jail and Bush can still say, "We don't torture." As if we should close our eyes because it's not happening on our soil.

The U.S. is currently holding around 500 prisoners at Bagram and Kandahar. This does not include the terror suspects who are in secret jails in Afghanistan.