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Looking (a bit too hard) for problems for SCOTUS short listers

By Douglas A. Berman

I am a bit disappointed, though not really surprised, by this new Slate piece from Emily Bazelon, titled "Future Dangerousness: The tricky sex offender case that could trip up one of the judges on the short list to replace Souter."   The piece is focused on Judge Diane Wood and examines a 2004 case from the Seventh Circuit, Doe v. City of Lafayette, in which Judge Wood voted in favor of a sex offender ? first as the swing vote in a split panel and then as a dissenter after the case was reviewed en banc. I have no problems closely examining significant opinions authored by judges who are possible SCOTUS nominees (though I wish the media would focus a lot more on possible candidates others than circuit judges).  But in this 2004 Doe case, Judge Wood merely cast a vote, she did not even write an opinion...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 05, 2009 (boomark / email).