Item One: Parental notification laws do not seem to have a significant effect on abortion rates. A New York Times analysis of the states that enacted laws from 1995 to 2004 — most of which had low abortion rates to begin with — found no evidence that the laws had a significant impact on the number of minors who got pregnant, or, once pregnant, the number who had abortions. A separate analysis considered whether the existence or absence of a law could be used to predict whether abortions went up or down. It could not.
Item Two: Prisoner Lawsuits may soon be toast. Cert was just granted in three consolidated cases that could have a huge (and not very good) impact on prison condition litigation.
Item Three, "A federal prosecutor asked a jury this morning to sentence Zacarias Moussaoui to death, saying that his willful decision to conceal his knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist plot when he was arrested weeks earlier makes him responsible for the thousands of deaths on that day."
Prediction: I think this is a bunch of crap, and no matter how disruptive and looney Moussaoui may be, I believe (contrary to everyone else in the world it seems) that a jury--even a Virginia jury will most likely sentence him to life rather than death in a stinging rebuke to the Federal Government. You heard it here (and only here) first. Hope springs eternal.
my controversial book about a day in my life as Public Defender in the South Bronx is finally available for Kindle and Ipad.
1 comment:
Right on, Dave. You are NOT the only one who believes that even Zacarias Moussaoui deserves a fair trial, and that if the death penalty is wrong it is wrong, no matter who gets it. I'm with yah, man! People have been so freaking blinded by 9/11 backlash. Anything less than a fair trial for Zack just follows the guilty until proven innocent (OK,maybe just guilty) attitude that has kept all those poor folks in Guantanamo Bay in cages for so long. Keep on carrying the torch!
Post a Comment