Ethics

Prosecutors Whine About That Pesky Constitution

By Ed Brayton

The New York Times has an article about last year's Supreme Court ruling that gave defendants the right to cross examine the lab technicians who analyze forensic evidence and how prosecutors and the government just hate having to actually make an effort to comply with that ruling. They're hoping a new case this term will result in the court dramatically narrowing the scope of that ruling to make the job of convicting people much easier for them.

"Already data and anecdotal evidence are demonstrating an overwhelming negative impact," a friend-of-the-court brief submitted by 26 attorneys general last month said. The decision, they said, "is already proving unworkable."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on December 29, 2009 (boomark / email).