Free Republic

An illegal immigrant charged in last month's Newark schoolyard slayings was entitled to be free on bail for previous crimes at the time of the shootings, and public criticism surrounding his release reflects a "profoundly flawed understanding of the right to bail," according to a judge's report released today...retired Judge Arthur N. D'Italia reviewed the court procedures followed in consolidating and setting bail in the prior criminal cases against Jose Lachira Carranza, whose arrest record - for attacking patrons during a bar fight and for child rape - sparked outrage after the Aug. 4 killings. ...the report...concludes the judge's actions...

Calif. prisons to end race-based policy Tue Dec 20, 6:47 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's prison system will no longer divide inmates by race, a practice in effect for more than 20 years and intended to limit gang violence, a spokeswoman for the system said on Tuesday. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had routinely segregated inmates by race on their arrival at prison, a practice challenged by a prisoner in a federal discrimination lawsuit. The department has settled the challenge and has agreed to no longer use race as the sole factor in deciding how to...

The Supreme Court issued several bazaar rulings this past term, but none more so than its June 20 decision reversing a Pennsylvania death sentence. In the under-reported case of Rompilla v. Beard, the Court by a 5-4 margin ruled that defense lawyers were remiss for not digging deeply enough for mitigating factors that might have spared Ronald Rompilla, now 57, the death penalty for the 1988 murder of an Allentown tavern owner. Curiosity prompted me to dig deeper. Writing for the majority, Justice David A. Souter begins with a disturbing account of Rompilla’s violent life. On the morning of January...

SANTA FE— In a decision that could set a precedent both statewide and nationally, a New Mexico state court judge has upheld Santa Fe's "living wage" law that requires businesses with at least 25 workers to pay workers $8.50 an hour. District Judge Daniel Sanchez's ruling— after nearly two months of deliberation— was announced Thursday and put the city's controversial minimum-wage law into effect immediately. Businesses opposed to the law are expected to appeal. Sanchez held in his decision that the living wage measure, which the Santa Fe City Council approved in a 7 to 1 vote in February 2003,...

First the brief Reuters article, then the URL of the 2nd Circuit opinion - the latter is a 53-page PDF file. Appeals Court Says Bush Can't Hold U.S. Citizen Thu December 18, 2003 11:11 AM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court, in a harsh blow to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies, ruled on Thursday that the president does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy combatant. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, ordered the government to release Jose Padilla, who is being held...

The detainees held at Guantanamo Bay shouldn't hire Alan Dershowitz quite yet. News accounts have played the Supreme Court's decision to consider whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction over Guantanamo as a setback to the Bush administration's position that the courts have nothing to do with it. "An unmistakable rebuff," according to the New York Times. This is media wishful thinking that coincides with a new vogue for the rights of "enemy combatants" in the Democratic party. Al Gore recently unleashed the U-bomb ("un-American") to characterize the handling of captured Taliban fighters: "The Bush administration's treatment of American citizens it calls...