The Newark Ledger today has an analysis of more than 200 opinions Judge Alito authored on criminal law during his 15 years on the bench.

As senators and advocacy groups pore over legal writings by Alito, the New Jersey native nominated to the Supreme Court, they will find a by-the-book interpreter of the law whose opinions in criminal matters reflect his many years as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey and advocate for Justice Department in Washington.

If the decision is close, Alito tends to side with law enforcement and rarely treads new ground, according to interviews with legal scholars and a review of more than two dozen opinions he has written in the past 15 years....Alito seems willing to give the benefit of the doubt to law enforcement.

The article cites several examples. [Via Sentencing Law and Policy whose author, Law Prof Doug Berman, is quoted in the article.]

The Department of Justice has issued its annual death penalty statistics. There are 63 fewer people on death row in America than there were in 2003.

That's still 3,315 too many.

Texas continues to lead the country in the number of executions carried out. California has the largest death row population, followed by Texas. As for race and gender:

A woman has been arrested in the Jordan bombings. She will confess on Jordanian tv this afternoon. She was to be one of the four bombers but her equipment didn't work and her husband and co-bomber scuttled her out of the hotel ballroom right before he blew himself up, taking with him many of the wedding guests.

The woman's brother was al Zarqawi's right hand man in the Anbar province of Iraq who was killed last year.

More details here.

Update: She was just on tv confessing. She didn't say her husband pushed her out of the way, only that his belt went off and her's didn't so she fled with the others in the ballroom.

All of the bombers were Iraqi. The Jordanian Government is going out of its way to reassure the Iraqis in Jordan that they are still welcome there.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Jeremy Hinzman, a U.S. soldier who deserted and fled to Canada rather than go to Iraq accusing the U.S. of war crimes, sought and was denied asylum by the Canadian government because he was not a conscientious objector.

The Canadian Federal Court granted review of the case Friday. See articles in the National Post and Globe and Mail.

The Washington Post takes a well-deserved swipe at Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo Sunday. Tancredo is proposing that citizenship be denied to U.S. born children of undocumented residents. Apparently he has never read the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment begins: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Not "all persons except children of illegal immigrants," not "all persons except those Congress exempts in moments of nativism." All persons.

Tancredo's off the wall theory is that these children are similar to diplomats in that they are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

In a Sunday editorial, the New York Times has some wise words for Democrats about Judge Alito.

The Alito nomination comes at a critical moment for the Democratic Party. With President Bush's poll numbers plummeting, Democrats are finding a new optimism about their chances in 2006 and 2008. But to capitalize on the Republicans' weakness, the party needs to show that it has an alternative vision for the country. As the Democrats refine their message for next year's elections, the first thing they need to be able to say to the American people is that they did not sit by idly while the far right took over the Supreme Court and began dismantling fundamental rights and freedoms.

Italian prosecutors are seeking the extradition of 22 CIA agents involved with the kidnapping and extraordinary rendition of Egyptian Islamic cleric Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. Omar was kidnapped by the CIA on a street in Milan and flown to Cairo where he allegedly was tortured.

Also see the English translation of an Italian news article on the extradition request here, reporting among other things that one of the 22 agents is a woman and that no final decision by the Italian Government has been made on whether to formally seek extradition:

by Last Night in Little Rock

I saw "Good Night, and Good Luck" (see imdb.com) tonight, my first movie in weeks, which is bad for a movie buff, but I work too much.

I am old enough to remember some of Edward R. Morrow's broadcasts. This movie takes place between 1953 and 1958, and it centers on CBS News getting to guts to take on Senator Joseph McCarthy and his trampling of civil liberties. But, it is more about the fear of Americans to question McCarthy, and CBS's own trepidation of taking him on, but they did.

Hilary at Obsidian Wings debunks Sen. Lindsay Graham's claims about detainee lawsuits.

Also, there is now at least one online campaign to support the Bingaman Amendment to defeat the Graham amendment and save habeas corpus for detainees. Please visit One Million Phone March to Save Habeas:

With virtually no advance notice the Republican majority in the Senate approved a last minute amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to deny U.S. courts jurisdiction to examine the legality of detainee detention in Guantanamo and elsewhere. They did this in defiance of the not yet completely packed Supreme Court (another reason to reject Alito), whose authority they would annul.

This is all despite the well-known FACT that many scooped up into these hell holes of torture are not terrorists at all, some even having been sold for bounty. Senator Bingaman immediately responded with a proposed corrective amendment (S.AMDT.2517) to restore jurisdiction.

CNN is continuing to feature bloggers via webcam on its new show, On the Story.

Tonight at 7pm ET, Matt Stoller will be on discussing political campaigns and the blogosphere. Matt has been involved in many internet campaigns, most recently, that of successful N.J. Senate candidate Jon Corzine.

He'll be on towards the end of the show and it repeats tomorrow.

by TChris

People who call the police, and then invite them into their homes, knowing they the police might discover a large stash of a controlled substance, are nearly automatic recipients of "stupid criminal of the week" recognition. Here's the latest:

In retrospect, it probably wasn't such a good idea to call the police. Ronald Meyers summoned officers to his home in an upscale neighborhood Thursday morning, claiming that someone was trying to open his windows and that he could hear voices outside.

Responding officers found no burglar but asked if they could check inside, said Sgt. John Booth, a Palm Springs police spokesman. When Meyers, 59, let them in, officers allegedly found more than $100,000 worth of marijuana, he said.

Actor Bruce Willis is offering $1 million to any civilian who captures Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Dog the Bounty Hunter has said several times he'd love to find Osama.

Question: How about finding Osama or someone else in the Middle East? Could you do it?

Dog: Absolutely. Waiting for the phone call from GW.

On CNBC, Dog said he could find Osama in 90 days.

Bruce, meet Dog. Dog meet Bruce.