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Law prof fears "mass freeing of criminal defendants"

By Douglas A. Berman

Yesterday in this post I noted this new op-ed authored by Senator John McCain in which the Senator asserts that Sentaor "Obama's judges would coddle criminals."  Today, Professor Steven Calabresi, in a somewhat insightful and somewhat wacky op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, takes the anti-Obama rhetoric up a notch.  Specifically, Professor Calabresi contends that if Senator Obama becomes President and appoints a large number of federal judges, "we could possibly see ... the abolition of capital punishment and the mass freeing of criminal defendants."  I was intrigued when Senator McCain promised that we might soon be seeing new judges coddling criminals, but I am really taking notice ? as must be criminal defendants ranging from Senator Ted Stevens to Jeff Skilling from George Ryan to Conrad Black from Duke Cunningham to Tom Noe ? now that a distinguished law professor is indicating that we might soon experience, as a result of new judicial appointment, "the mass freeing of criminal defendants...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).