Phoenix's Sheriff Joe Arpaio may have a rival in the category of worst Sheriff in America. Pinal County (Tucson)Sheriff Paul Babeu has announced his department will institute a policy authorizing (mandating) the use of lethal force against suspected drug smugglers.

"I've given specific instruction, no less than lethal force is going to be used. It's all lethal force only and we go into that environment knowing that we're likely expecting an armed threat from these people," Babeu said.

Good thing for this Sheriff's deputy, he's in Texas and not Tucson. [More...]

Radley Balko has a new article at Slate on the grand jury investigation of Siobhan Reynolds of the Pain Relief Network. Tanya Treadway is the relentless federal prosecutor pursuing her, apparently for exercising her First Amendment rights in the trial of pain doctor and his wife charged with drug trafficking. The fight started when the prosecutor sought a gag order against Ms. Reynolds, lost, and then opened a grand jury investigation and subpoenaed everything but the kitchen sink.

When Reynolds appealed the subpoena, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld it, as well as the seal on everything related to it. While we can't read the ruling, the justification for the seal is ostensibly the secrecy afforded to grand jury investigations. But that secrecy is supposed to protect the people the grand jury is investigating. In this case, the person being investigated wants it made public. Reynolds feels the subpoena is harassment and wants to shed some light on it. Treadway and the courts are hammering Reynolds with the very secrecy that is supposed to protect her. [More...]

Bob Braudis, Aspen's (and my) favorite Sheriff reflects on his 24 years of service in an in-depth interview in the Aspen Times. (Great photos from the shoot here.)

Indisputably Pitkin County's most influential and beloved elected official for more than two decades, Braudis' outspokenness — from his positions against the war on drugs to his well-documented friendship with the late author Hunter S. Thompson — made him a giant among what he calls the “free thinkers” of Pitkin County.

For those who have known and appreciated Braudis all these years, there won't be a lot that comes as a surprise. For those who aren't familiar with him, it's a great read and highlights the difference between a law enforcement perspective like Braudis' that's smart on crime from one that is tough on crime (and destined to fail.) Some of the better quotes below: [More...]

Congress has passed a stop-gap budget bill. The new census reports are out and the U.S. has 308 million people. The power in Congress has shifted to the West and South. That may prove to help Democrats, notwithstanding recent Republican electoral gains:

[P]opulation gains in the South and West were driven overwhelmingly by minorities, particularly Hispanics, and the new districts, according to the rules of redistricting, will need to be drawn in places where they live, opening potential advantages for Democrats, who tend to be more popular among minorities.

TV seems dead for the next few weeks. It will be On Demand and Netflix till January. Not bad: Ben Affleck's "The Town." It's no "The Departed", but it's okay. Next up: Wall St. II. Not worth the time or money: Eat, Pray, Love. I'm still thinking about how good Intelligence was. If you get Netflix streaming, I highly recommend it. Here's a review. Caution: It's very addictive.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The U.S. District Court in Colorado has been declared a "judicial emergency court." Each of our five judges carries 593 cases. Caseloads in excess of 430 are considered "in need of emergency judicial assistance."

The Senate today confirmed William Martinez to fill one of our two judicial vacancies. Nominated by President Obama, and strongly supported by both Sen. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, the Republicans held up his nomination. Why? He worked on a panel for the ACLU. Jeff Sessions' comment:

"It seems that if you've got the ACLU DNA you've got a pretty good leg up to being nominated by this president,"

Martinez has a strong civil rights background. And an impressive resume. He doesn't have a background in criminal law, but he's clearly a fighter for the underdog.

Truthout reports the White House is drafting an Executive Order for indefinite detention of terror suspects. President Obama is expected to sign it early next year.

[t]he order establishes indefinite detention as a long-term Obama administration policy and makes clear that the White House alone will manage a review process for those it chooses to hold without charge or trial.

Sounds pretty much like the Bush White House. I'm not impressed by these mostly cosmetic changes:

If signed by President Obama, the new order will provide added review for detainees designated for long-term detention. The order, which is being drafted jointly by White House staff in the National Security council and the White House counsel, will offer detainees in this category a minimal review every six months and then a more lengthy annual review. Detainees will have access to an attorney, to some evidence against them and the ability to challenge their continued detention.

The Washington Post has an ominous report on a huge domestic intelligence database being built by the feds and shared with state and local law enforcement.

The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.

The Post dubs it Top Secret America and shows how it plays out state by state. Check your state out here.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has released its annual report on the number of people in prisons and jails and on probation and parole.

For the first time in 30 years there was a slight drop in the number of state prisoners. Federally, the number is up 3.4%. The numbers for 2009 are still staggering:

7,225,800 people were either in prison, on probation or parole. That's 1 in 32 people or 3.1% of the population.

Of the 7.2 million, there were 1,319,426 inmates in state prisons and 205,087 in federal prisons. More than 4 million adults were on probation at the end of 2009, while 819,000 were under parole supervision.

There were 140,000 federal prisoners in 2000. In 2009, there were 205,000. The total number of incarcerated persons in 2008 was 2,300,700. In 2009, the number fell by a smidgen (0.7%) to 2,284,900. to The full report is here.

The lawyers for Mohamed Mohamud, the 19 year-old accused of planning to bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon following a long FBI sting investigation, have filed a motion asking the court to order Attorney General Eric Holder to cease making prejudicial public comments about the case.

In defending the sting against allegations of entrapment, Holder has said:

"Those who characterize the FBI's activities in this case as 'entrapment' simply do not have their facts straight -- or do not have a full understanding of the law," Holder said to the group Muslim Advocates at its annual dinner.

Mohamud's lawyers point out Holder's comments violate the Code of Federal Regulations, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and their client's 5th and 6th Amendment rights. From the motion, available on PACER: [More...]

Via mcjoan, here it comes:

[T]he larger spending debate [was kicked] into the new year, when Republicans will control the House and have more Senate seats. It would also start the bargaining between congressional Republicans and the White House at a lower funding level than the now-defunct Democratic plan.

(Emphasis supplied.) Feel the stimulus! The Deal was a terrible mistake.

I have stated many times my view of the importance of tax policy and how it impacts all aspects of government policy (spending regulation enforcement, etc.) Ronald Reagan understood this point, and his most important achievements, from his perspective, came in the area of tax policy. Most Beltway Dems and bloggers are blind to this fact. Including President Obama. A recent National Journal article restated Barack Obama's view of Ronald Reagan as his model of a transformative President:

I'm headed to court. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.