Novalawcity

Is there a de facto death penalty moratorium?

That's a question explored by Linda Greenhouse in the New York Times today.  She observes:

The Supreme Court has granted two stays of execution and refused to vacate a third in the three weeks since it agreed to hear a challenge to Kentucky’s use of lethal injection.

. . . .

The top criminal court in Texas, a state that accounts for 405 of the 1,099 executions carried out in this country since 1976, has indicated that it will permit no more executions until the Supreme Court rules, sometime next spring. The Nevada Supreme Court this week postponed all executions in that state. The governor of Alabama gave one inmate a 45-day reprieve. The country’s most recent execution took place in Texas on the night of Sept. 25, hours after the Supreme Court announced its review of the Kentucky case.

Supreme Court double round-up

Monday marked the start of the new Supreme Court term, and two law library blogs have rounded up a variety of resources for court watchers.

The Law Librarian blog lists a variety of overviews of the term, and examinations of cases and issues facing the court.

The Ross-Blakley Library blog points to newspapers and websites, including the Supreme Court website, that will provide current information as the term unfolds.

Broward County judges blogged

Broward County judges (with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) are not amused by the attention given to them by a local law blog.  The JAABlog from the Justice Advocacy Association of Broward is not afraid to speak out about judges and their actions on and off the court bench.  The blog comments on the good and the not-so-good.  Local interest in this blog heated up in the month of May.  The blog links to articles reporting on  the spotlight turned on themselves.

Judges use Google too

Earlier this year we became aware that judges are starting to use Google more often in court; see CNET's news.com article on the pros and cons: "Search engines take the stand." The Oct. 2004 issue of the ABA Journal questions this practice in the article "In Google We Trust." [Note: unfortunately the ABA web site blocks access to their content unless you are a member].

The main gist of the article is that people who understand the web are concerned with the use of Google by the courts. While the use of Google is "irresistible and indispensable" ... "search engines ought to be used with caution, especially when it comes to relying on search results as evidence."

October Term

It's that time of year again when the U.S. Supreme Court begins it new term. The ACSBlog (the blog of the American Constitution Society) points to a good overview of the cases to be heard by the court this term. The U.S. Supreme Court begins its session on Monday, Oct. 4, 2004.

Judging judges

How does the public rate judges? A Philadelphia man has started a web site that allows anyone to rate the local judges at www.ratephillyjudges.com. For more on this, read "The Verdict is In: Web Site Users Get to Judge the Judges."