Christmas Day Oddities

The Old South Hasn't Gone Anywhere, and Won't:

X _________ (just take a wild guess) and a number of political interest groups attacked Wallace's nomination (to the federal bench), led by a scathing report from the American Bar Association that gave him a "not qualified" rating. The report specifically questioned his record on civil rights, his treatment of minorities and his record on voting rights issues. The predominantly African-American Magnolia Bar Association also opposed Wallace's nomination on grounds the 5th Circuit bench needs more diversity based on the district's population.

Wallace was reticent about his political opposition, but when asked if he held racist views, Wallace said flatly: "No."

The ABA report noted: "Lawyers and judges stated that Mr. Wallace did not understand or care about issues central to the lives of the poor, minorities, the marginalized, the have-nots and those who do not share his view of the world."

More Synaptical Sparks Concerning Ohio, Death Penalty and interesting comments about pain, punishment and death from crimeandconsequences dot com here.

Maryland, Death Penalty notes, and the Political Value to State Republicans, tipped in from Washington Post via How Appealing (Howard Bashman):

the confluence of national currents and a Maryland court ruling last week halting executions on a technicality could make the death penalty a defining issue of O'Malley's tenure.***executions are not likely to resume without action from his administration. Under the ruling by the Court of Appeals, new regulations must be drafted before the state may put more prisoners to death -- and early signs from O'Malley and his aides suggest that he sees no reason to rush that process. *** O'Malley said he was certain that "all of this will spark a renewed debate as to whether all of the money we spend prosecuting death penalty cases might be better spent fighting violent crime and saving lives."***Legislation that allowed executions to resume would be subject to a filibuster in the Senate, however, and is not certain to pass, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee. In coming weeks, lawmakers will be looking at O'Malley to signal where the process is headed, said Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore), vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

A pair of interesting posts from Howard Bashman, a Freebie, (in Law dotcom) about SCOTUS, from Legal Times (not cheap news), and what I might call a year-end wrap-up here (written by Howard).

Happy Holidays!