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Different perspective on the Justices' take on federal sex offender civil commitment

By Douglas A. Berman

The early reporting on today's SCOTUS oral argument in Comstock (basics here) provide quite distinct takes on what the Justices are thinking.  Consider the lead of this Bloomberg report, which is headlined "Sex-Offender Commitment Law Gets Support at U.S. Supreme Court": U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled they are likely to uphold a national law that permits the civil commitment of ?sexually dangerous? people after they complete their federal prison terms. Hearing arguments today in Washington, most of the nine justices suggested they viewed Congress as having the constitutional power to enact the law.  A federal appeals court said the 2006 measure, under which more than 100 people have been held, exceeded Congress?s authority. But now consider the lead of this Reuters report, which is headlined "U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).