Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Crime and Consequences

Criminal Law

: Crime and Consequences

Intellectual Dishonesty Epic

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

Joel Jacobsen at Judging Crimes has a series of long posts, 3 so far, titled "Intellectual dishonesty epic." The series provides some interesting historical background regarding one of the most dishonest decisions in the history of the Supreme Court, Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391 (1963), overruled in Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991). In that decision, Justice Brennan rewrote the history of habeas corpus in such a brazen manner that the only apt comparison is to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984. This variance from the truth did not go unnoticed at the time, of course. Justice Harlan wrote an entire section of his dissent under the heading "Departure from History," giving the real history. Professor Dallin Oaks wrote an article titled Legal History in the High Court -- Habeas Corpus, 64 Mich...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on January 25, 2008 (boomark / email).