This is a first. John Kerry will announce his vice presidential candidate in an email to the subscribers to his website on his weblog. He won't say when he will make the announcement--only that it will be before the convention.

Bump and Update: NACDL has added a special Blakely session to its superb San Francisco CLE program on Thursday, July 29 at 4PM . It will address the implications of Blakely on state and federal sentencing guidelines. The panel will be moderated by Carmen Hernandez. Panelists include: Jeffrey Fisher, Peter Goldberger, Steve Kalar, and others. Sign up now!

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Original Post

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) has created a Blakely v. Washington Resource page. It is keeping track of post-Blakely decisions and news, and has links to the major weblogs covering the case. If you're a defense lawyer, you should bookmark it now.

Update: If you've missed TChris posting the past few days, he's been busy writing a Blakely brief for the 7th Circuit. He'll be back soon. He recognized the importance of the Blakely decision at the time of oral argument.

Law Professor Michael Froomkin, at Discourse.net is not joining the New York Times editorial board in its praise for the Senate vote to "to require the administration to account for all the prisoners it has captured abroad, and to turn over information about US military prisons to the Red Cross, and to comply with the Geneva conventions." He makes several good points, here's just a few.

First, the Senate’s action comes just a little late. The administration was able to invade Iraq because Congress didn’t do its job in asking questions and holding it to account. And news about problems in the prisons is hardly new. There were rumors of trouble long before the infamous photos. One can argue about whether the legislature was on notice before they emerged. But there’s no question that they have been on notice for weeks, yet this vote comes only in the shadow of the Supreme Court’s reassertion of long-standing verities of separation of powers.

It shouldn’t require legislative action to compel the President to take care that the “supreme Law of the Land” be observed, and indeed I wonder if it could be a bad precedent to even suggest in any way that but for legislative action the President ought to feel any freedom of action to unilaterally disregard fundamental norms of international law such as the Geneva conventions.

I’ll cheer when the legislature starts investigating the CIA’s network of interrogation camps. Does anyone ever get out alive?

Our second premium ad space is available--on the left side of TL, under the logo. We lowered the price for the 4th of July weekend. The space is limited to one ad, so act quick.

People for the American Way has posted the list of Floridians alleged to be felons and ineligible to vote. It also has instructions for how you can correct an erroneous listing:

On July 1, People For the American Way Foundation received from the Florida Division of Elections an electronic copy of a list of more than 47,000 registered Florida voters who the Division thinks may be ineligible to vote because of felony convictions. This list is now a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone as a result of the decision on July 1 by the Leon County Circuit Court in CNN v. Florida Department of State. The Supervisor of Elections in each Florida county has the list, and may use it as part of the basis to purge voters from the registration rolls. The state has admitted, however, that there may very well be errors on the list.

Background on media's successful lawsuit to obtain the list is here.

From John Kerry's Press Release today on the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (received by email), in which Kerry lays out his position on civil liberties:

• Expanding Opportunity in Jobs, Education, and Health Care. John Kerry has a plan to create 10 million new jobs, reduce outsourcing and create manufacturing jobs. He also understands that true equality is impossible without improving our public school system. John Kerry supports full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act and special needs education, a new initiative to increase excellence in teaching, and Kerry will help one million more students graduate from high school. Finally, John Kerry knows that current racial disparities in health and health care are unacceptable. He has a plan to make high-quality, affordable health care available to all Americans and reduce these disparities.

• Rigorous Enforcement of the Nation’s Civil Rights Laws. John Kerry understands that discrimination remains a problem in America and that strong enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws is critical to ensuring equal rights and opportunities for all Americans. He is also a strong supporter of affirmative action. As a former prosecutor, Kerry has the strength and skills to enforce civil rights laws, reduce discrimination and expand opportunity.

• Strengthen Civil Rights Laws Damaged by Right-Wing Judges and Strengthen Hate Crime Laws. John Kerry supports the Fairness Act which will reverse damage done to civil rights laws by right-wing judges. He wants to ensure that every American can get their day in court and have access to fair and meaningful remedies for injustice. John Kerry supports strong enforcement and equal justice for all victims of hate violence.

How tough will it be to defend Saddam Hussein? From columnist John O'Farrell in today's Guardian.

Things haven't been made any easier for the defence counsel by the fact the trial is taking place in a location so secret that no one will actually tell them where the courtroom is. There will be video footage of the courtroom, but the judge's face will be pixelated to protect his identity. This is the only trial where it is the judge who has his head under a blanket as he is bundled into the courtroom. Or perhaps this is just because he's so embarrassed to be involved with such a meticulously stage-managed piece of theatre. The west's biggest baddie could have been tried by a democratic Iraqi regime, but that might have meant waiting until after the American elections.

....Of course, some sort of trial was required, if only to provide closure and a modicum of justice for the thousands who suffered under Saddam's brutal dictatorship. But this sham isn't it. And as they rejoin the world community, the Iraqis might just consider the bigger picture. This is election year in the United States and a successful prosecution of Saddam is the best fillip the George Bush re-election campaign could hope for. So to test the idea of genuine independence, in early November the Iraqis should ring up Washington and say: "We've finished the trial, George and, well, we decided to let him off..."

There's lots more.

New Mexico's Governor, Bill Richardson, has withdrawn his name from consideration as a vice-presidential candidate to John Kerry.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, one of the country's top Hispanic Democrats, on Thursday told John Kerry he no longer wants to be considered as a possible running mate. Richardson said he wants to keep a promise to the people of New Mexico to serve a full, four-year term and noted that Kerry has "numerous experienced and talented leaders" from which to choose a vice presidential candidate.

"It is with that knowledge and comfort that I must tell you that I respectfully remove myself from the selection process and withdraw my name from consideration for the vice presidential nomination," Richardson said.

Good. Less competition for John Edwards.

In 2001, MCC Brooklyn, a federal detention center for pre-trial arrestees who aren't allowed to or can't make bail pending their trials and sentencings, began videotaping lawyers meeting with their clients. And they lied about it. Yesterday, the lawyers filed a lawuit seeking thousands in damages.

When lawyers from the Legal Aid Society made their way into the federal detention center in Brooklyn in the fall of 2001 to meet with detainees, they said, they were alarmed to see video cameras on the walls. Concerned about the confidentiality of their conversations with their shackled clients - immigrant detainees who were rounded up after the Sept. 11 attacks - the lawyers asked whether they were being taped. Prison officials assured them, they say, that the cameras were turned off.

But the cameras were running. The federal prison was intentionally recording the lawyer-client conversations in violation of federal law and prison policy, according to a December report by the inspector general of the Justice Department, Glenn A. Fine. Surreptitiously taping attorney-client communications is a direct attack on the role of counsel and on these Legal Aid attorneys' well-established constitutional rights," said Nelson A. Boxer, a partner of the Dechert law firm, who is representing the lawyers without fee. The plaintiffs are seeking damages under a federal statute that prohibits electronic eavesdropping without court approval and sets $10,000 for each violation. They have agreed to donate any money award to the Legal Aid Society, they said.

We hope the Government has to fork over every red cent for this egregious intrusion.

"If the Justice Department is not going to defend the Constitution, then we will," said Bryan Lonegan, one of the plaintiffs.

Go over and view Cocaine Country, a National Geographic 8 miniute flash movie about cocaine and Colombia and what the crop means to the people. Link via Drug War Rant who writes,

And then ask yourself if our policies of spraying crops and providing military hardware and assistance makes any sense at all.

Here's the story behind it, and the text of some of the movie's narrative. The opening lines:

One afternoon, while crossing the soccer field in the village of Monserrate, I saw a man spreading white powder on three plastic tarps. What are you doing? I asked. "Drying cocaine base," he replied. "If it's wet, it'll be too heavy, and the dealer won't buy it." And no one minds? "Of course not," he said. "Everyone does it." Clearly I'd entered a world where "business as usual" had acquired a totally new meaning.

Our cyber-sister Avedon Carol at Sideshow has a terrific idea for a t-shirt-- she just needs someone to help her make it.

Skippy does a clever take on Crimes In the News, which we call Crimes 'R Us. Here's a snippet from Skippy:

a defiant scott petersen rejected accusations of war crimes and genocide in court thursday, telling a judge in his first public appearance since his capture seven months ago that the real "criminal" was kobe bryant.

saddam hussein said he was tired of one-night stands with "bimbos," wanted to find his soul mate and was even considering putting “horny bastard” on his business cards, according to testimony in his capital-murder trial wednesday.

CNN and other media outlets prevailed today in their quest for the list of felons Florida wants to purge from the voting rolls. The state will not appeal.

A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected felons to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.
The list is used to determine who will be eligible to vote in November's presidential election in the state.

....In 2000, a similar list was the center of controversy when state officials acknowledged after the election that it contained thousands of names in error, thus barring eligible people from voting. Many of the barred voters were African-Americans, who traditionally tend to vote Democratic. Bush won the state by a 537-vote margin and, with it, the presidency.

Background on the lawsuit is here. Florida needs to pass this constitutional amendment restoring the right to vote to Floridian felons who have completed their sentences. Approximately 600,000 Floridians are banned from voting due to felony convictions according to the Florida Equal Rights Voting Project.

[link via Memeorandum]

Here's some of the Post-Blakely court action to date. Law Prof Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy is totally on top of it. And say hello to the Blakely Blawg .

Utah is the big one of course, U.S. v. Croxford. There is a federal W. Virginia decision in U.S. v. Shamblin. Sentencing Law and Policy reports:

Judge Goodwin concluded that a defendant involved in significant drug operation --- who would have received a life sentence before Apprendi and 20 years before Blakely --- could only now be sentenced to a term of 12 months! Interestingly, in footnote 11 of this opinion, Judge Goodwin expressly rejects Judge Cassell's conclusions in US v. Croxford about the right way to sentence now in light of the conclusion that Blakely applies to the federal guidelines.

Then, also from SL&P, here's a partial transcript from a Maine federal sentencing on June 28, 2004 in U.S. v. Fanfan:

The federal judge that sentenced the D.C. 'Tractor Man' to six years in prison last week has signed an order reducing his sentence to 16 months due to the Supreme Court's Blakely decision. He was released from prison today.

Still wearing his navy blue jail uniform, Dwight W. Watson was set free tonight, nearly 16 months after driving his tractor onto the Mall and making a phony bomb threat in a protest that paralyzed parts of the city.... Watson's release came a few hours after a federal appellate court rejected a last-chance effort by the Justice Department to keep him locked up. Federal prosecutors had been scrambling since U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson cut Watson's sentence to 16 months. With credit for good behavior, Watson's time was up.

Prosecutors contended that there was no reason for Jackson to act, arguing that the judge had misinterpreted a Supreme Court ruling issued June 24, a day after Watson's sentencing. Jackson said the decision, handed down in an unrelated case, convinced him that he had unjustly added time to Watson's sentence in a way the Constitution did not allow. Prosecutors wanted Watson to stay in jail while they appealed Jackson's ruling, but the appellate court turned them down.

Congrats to A.J. Kramer, Watson's federal defender.

The latest flash animation on Attorney General John Ashcroft from Alliance for Justice. It's better than great.

Here's the story behind it and how you can help.

Armed with the far-reaching USA Patriot Act, John "Spy-der-man" Ashcroft abuses his power and abuses his authority as our nation's top cop. The flash ends with the ultimate call to action for Ashcroft: resign.

Although humor is used to convey the strong message of Spy-der-man, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron points to the seriousness of Ashcroft's actions. "Under Attorney General John Ashcroft's leadership, the Justice Department has issued anti-terrorism policies that intrude on free speech, privacy, and due process," said Aron. "Ashcroft's actions have enabled the government to look at private information and spy on religious and political groups."

Also check out their Independent Judiciary website.

Help Stop Feeney II! Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), a proponent of the notorious Feeney Amendment, has introduced legislation to further curtail the sentencing discretion of federal judges. A hearing is set for July 6. The "Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act" (H.R. 4547) would:

• Establish draconion mandatory minimum sentences for drug distribution involving persons under 18 years of age. The sale of any quantity of any controlled substance (including anything greater than five grams of marijuana) by a person older than 21 to a person younger than 18 would be subject to a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence; persons 21 years or older convicted a second time of distributing drugs to a person under 18 or convicted a first time after a felony drug offense has become final would receive a mandatory life sentence.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told the City Council in a 2 hour briefing that the officers involved in the videotaped beating of Stanley Miller, who had surrendered to police before the hits began, did not follow departmental policy:

"It is a mess. It is not what we teach at the academy," Bratton told the Los Angeles City Council during a two-hour briefing Wednesday.....He said a series of tactical errors were made during the arrest, beginning with an officer who holstered his gun before tackling Miller when he should have kept it trained on the suspect while other officers handcuffed him. Officer John Hatfield's kicking of Miller also was not departmental policy, he said. "We don't teach kicks," Bratton said.

Background on the incident by TChris is here.

The Washington Post has this account of Saddam Hussein's feisty court appearance today.

Update: Christine Amanpour provides a first hand account. BBC has good quotes from the hearing. [link via Norwegianity, who calls today's appearance "the mother of all perp walks.]