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The Docket: 04/22

By Mark Obbie

This week's edition covers an impressive range, from torture to witty banter among Supreme Court justices. As always, send comments and suggestions to rsmascarenhas [at] gmail [dot] com. As we've seen since the release of the Bush Administration torture memos, covering detention policies well requires extensive knowledge of medical and legal issues. Atul Gawande, The New Yorker's health reporter, set an impressive standard a few weeks ago in his piece on solitary confinement. The article provocatively asks if the practice constitutes torture as it combines chilling testimony from former prisoners, a discussion of neurological evidence and interviews with legal experts. The Justice Project recently released an ambitious report that calls for clearly defined rules and procedures and more transparency in prosecutor's offices across the country. It's a timely document in light of the Ted Stevens drama, as well as an informant's revelations in the Philadelphia Inquirier that may overturn over 50 narcotics cases. And finally, the Supreme Court faces a slew of controversial cases in the next two weeks. As always, Tony Mauro has been up to the challenge, producing excellent copy on Twitter, his blog and in the Legal Times. He captured a nice moment in one oral argument when Justice Scalia started to question Justice Breyer rather than attorney Kenneth Starr, forcing Chief Justice Roberts to step in. (Incidentally, this pair has sparred in this fashion before, as Adam Liptak of The New York Times noted in January.)-- Rohan Mascarenhas

Full post as published by Lawbeat on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).