Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be charged in federal court with offenses relating to the 9/11 attack, is asking for a delay in setting his trial date so he can appeal the most recent adverse rulings against him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Scotus blog reports these are the constitutional issues he will raise:

• Has Moussaoui’s Sixth Amendment right to obtain witnesses to testify in his favor been denied? That is a reference to the three high-level Al Qaeda operatives that the U.S. has captured and is holding overseas in undisclosed locations. The Fourth Circuit has ruled that they could give favorable testimony that might help Moussaoui prove that he was not directly involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Fourth Circuit, however, has strictly limited his lawyers’ access to those three. This issue will turn on the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in Crawford v. Washington.

• Is it appropriate, under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment, for the government to seek the death penalty when the government will not produce “all favorable evidence before trial,” and the jury that would sentence Moussoui if convicted “is precluded from considering all of the circumstances of the offense”? This is a reference to the unusual procedure mandated by the Fourth Circuit for editing, for use at trial, statements that the Al Qaeda operatives have made to government interrogators about 9/11.

by TChris

At least for now, a military commission will not be able to hear the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver.

"Unless and until a competent tribunal determines that petitioner is not entitled to protections afforded prisoners of war under Article 4 of the Geneva Convention ... of Aug. 12, 1949, he may not be tried by military commission for the offenses with which he is charged," U.S. District Judge James Robertson said in his ruling.

by TChris

Scott Peterson's jury has been instructed to keep an open mind -- advice that the country as a whole might want to heed. But in a trial, when the jury has been deliberating for three days, it may signal the judge's concern that the jury will hang.

Update: Talk of a hung jury may be premature. Late this afternoon the jury asked to review additonal evidence:

The panel asked to hear several of the tapes made by Amber Frey, Peterson's girlfriend. One recording they requested included Frey quizzing Peterson on why he told her his wife Laci was dead before she was reported missing. The jury also asked to see a cement anchor, information on a life insurance policy on Laci Peterson, and Scott Peterson's fishing license, among other items.

Bump and Update: We just learned that Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), soon to be the Democratic miniority whip, was instrumental in appropriating $950,000 for Project Ceasefire.

******************
Original Post: 11/7 10:30 am

Chicago's homicide rate is down. Many in law enforcement, as well as civic leaders and criminologists, attribute it to Project Ceasefire.

Violence, like alcoholism or drug abuse, has become a disease in Chicago, a disease that has taken on epidemic proportions. This group of more than a dozen former thugs and gang members prepared to become outreach workers in an aggressive campaign aimed at reining in street violence the same way public health groups have gone after AIDS and tuberculosis.

"To tell people they need to let the street life go, you have to have let it go yourself," Tio Hardiman, the program's community coordinator, told the trainees. "We're trying to change the way people think. What we're trying to say is it's abnormal to shoot someone. There's nothing normal about that."

Project CeaseFire is in nine of Chicago's police districts. The homicide rate in these districts dropped 28 percent this year. In districts without the project's presence, homicides are down 20 percent.

"Gulf War Vet Sues Army Over New Call-Up" and "Iraqi officer deserts with Fallujah battle plans." Is this a trend we will be seeing more of?

Crimes and Federalism asks, "Has the Eighth Circuit expanded the scope of a drug-related search beyond reason? You decide."

Police had a search warrant authorizing the search and seizure of "crack cocaine, marijuana, heroin, weapons, U.S. currency, drug transaction records, and any other instruments of the crime." The Court had to decide what is covered by ""any other instruments?" The answered turned out to be just about everything but the kitchen sink:

More wonderful blogs are closing up shop in the wake of last week's election. We wrote about Tristero here. Today we received an e-mail from Anna of Annatopia. She's shutting down. Another big loss for the blogosphere. Hesiod at Counterspin has also shuttered his doors. Let's hope they just need a rest and will join us again soon.

Update: New blogs are coming on board. Say hello to the new weblog of the U.S. Marijuana Party by the organization's indefatigable Loretta Nall.

In June, 2003, we wrote about New York Senator Charles Schumer's letter to President Bush suggesting recommended replacements for any retiring Court Justices:

New York Senator Charles Schumer is pushing Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Spector for a seat on the Supreme Court.

Schumer's suggested list of five candidates includes Specter and Michael Mukasey, a Ronald Reagan appointee now serving as chief judge of the federal court in Manhattan. He also recommends judges Anne Williams, Edward Prado and Stanley Marcus, all current federal appeals court judges nominated by Republican presidents.

Schumer's effort to block the nominations of lawyer Miguel Estrada and Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen has angered Republicans, who have suggested redrafting Senate rules to prevent filibusters of judicial nominees. Here is the full text of Schumer's letter to President Bush. [links via How Appealing]

[hat tip Jim Lindgren at Volokh who reminds us of Schumer's letter today.]

After Specter's non-warning to Bush last week about appointing ideologues on the abortion issue, I'd say Specter has no chance. Jim thinks it will be Alberto Gonzales, as has been rumored for over a year. If I had to back someone on that short list, it would be Edward Prado of Texas hands-down, a Bush 5th Circuit nominee unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

Jim is not alone in predicting that Bush will select Alberto Gonzales. As we wrote in December, 2002, in a plea for readers not to back a third party candidate, the New York Times reported:

I received this e-mail today from someone in Minnesota who provided his name and telephone number:

About a year ago, the reality-based blogs started noticing how the Selective Service System was looking for volunteers to fill up county draft boards, nationwide. I signed up, and was accepted to the Hennepin County Draft Board. And just got a call Sunday, telling me to set aside January 8 for a day's training.

Is this happening elsewhere?

The Albany Times Union has an editorial outlining why John Aschroft should resign as Attorney General.

His departure can't come fast enough. His legacy, after all, will be the Patriot Act. Three years later, it's clearer than ever that this ill-conceived and hastily approved package of anti-terrorism laws made the country no safer. In exchange for an erosion of their civil liberties, Americans got, well, nothing to speak of.

Of course, we agree. But so what? Ashcroft is not the only danger. Bush and his power of appointment are what is to be feared.

The Fourth Amendment continues to decline in popularity in some federal circuits. The Third Circuit has ruled that you can be forced to submit to a taking of your hair so that a drug test for cocaine usage may be performed. Even if it means that police have to shave your head to get it.*

After acknowledging the difference between snipping a few strands of hair and seizing a hair root, which is under the skin, not visible to the public and a living structure, the court found forced shaving to be more akin to a snip:

"The fact that Coddington had very short hair on his head, requiring the police officers and the beautician to shave some of his hair to the skin in order to obtain a sufficient quantity for the drug test, does not alter the fact that the only hair that was taken was above the body surface and on public display, and that hair was taken in a proper manner."

Judge Michael Chertoff, a Bush appointee, concurred in the opinion.

_________________
*The justification for snipping hair for a drug test was established in a prior case which held,

We conclude that there is no greater expectation of privacy with respect to hair which is on public display than with respect to voice, handwriting or fingerprints. In the case of blood samples and fingernail scrapings, the bodily seizure requires production of evidence below the body surface which is not subject to public view."

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