Odds and Ends

Clemency Recommended for Torres: As discussed in the past, the United Nations International Court of Justice and Mexico in particular has spoken against U.S. courts not meeting treaty obligations regarding notifications of foreign consulates when their nationals are charged with death penalty offenses. The OK Board of Pardons recommended clemency in one such case. It is up to the governor, but this is the sort of thing Justice Kennedy was talking about in his Dretke dissent -- states have a responsibility to sometimes use their discretion to "hold out the promise that mercy is not foreign to our system."

Mother's Day Preview: Talk Left and others have addressed the fact that if we truly want to respect mothers, we need to understand how society does not properly serve their needs as well as their place in social change.

May 9th is also John Ashcroft's birthday. HB Johnny! Jeffrey Rosen, The New Republic legal reporter, discusses his upcoming puff piece on Ashcroft here. For instance, he explains how the Patriot Act isn't that bad after all, and anyway, would have been passed by President Gore. He does note that it has problems, problems Gore might very well have tempered by accepting some softening amendments, and that the conservative libertarian right would have been stronger in their opposition. Also, as a whole, such compromise and wariness would have made it generally more acceptable to the people as a whole. So, yeah, I guess Ashcroft and Bush being there did matter.