Prop 8 Videos, Jails Commission Meets, Colbert v. SCOTUS, Sentencing Reform

9TH CIRCUIT DECIDES THAT VIDEO OF PROP 8 TRIAL ARGUMENTS WILL NOT BE RELEASED

The San Jose Mercury News has the story. Here’s a clip:

A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to allow the public release of the videotapes of the historic Proposition 8 trial that led a judge to overturn California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments of media organizations and same-sex marriage advocates, saying the trial judge in the Proposition 8 trial had offered assurances that the videotapes would remain under seal.

The appeals court stressed that the ruling was based on the particular facts of the Proposition 8 case, not broader questions of public access to court proceedings.

Before the 2010 trial, the U.S. Supreme Court had blocked former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker from permitting the proceedings to be broadcast. But Walker videotaped the trial for use inside the courthouse by the lawyers and him.

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THE CITIZENS’ COMMISSION ON JAIL VIOLENCE MEETS FRIDAY

The Citizens Commission on Jail Violence has not yet begun hearing from witnesses and the like, but is still nailing down its plan of attack.

For instance, at today’s meeting the commission plans to firm up its timeline (Hint: its final report is preliminarily set to due in August/September—meaning September, since nobody wants to read a serious report in August.)

The commission will also discuss the five different areas of investigation that its teams of investigators intend to pursue—things like “deputy culture,” “use of force,” “investigative procedures,” “management and oversight,” and various jail personnel issues.

PLUS they’ll receive a report on jail population trends, compiled for them by Jim Austin (the national expert on the topic who is doing a larger jail population assessment and proposal for Sheriff Baca and the LA County Board of Supervisors).

Anyway, you get the idea. More on all this after the meeting.

(Just to remind you, this is the commission appointed by the LA County Board of Supervisors to investigate the problems of inmate abuse by deputies in the LA County jail system and to make recommendations).

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SENTENCING PROJECT RELEASES NEW REPORT SHOWING MANY STATES ARE DIALING BACK THEIR SENTENCING AND LOCK-UP POLICIES.

The new report highlights 55 reforms in 29 states and documents “a growing trend to reform sentencing policies and scale back the use of imprisonment without compromising public safety.”

Here are the kinds of reforms the report documents:

Sentence modifications – Four states — Connecticut, Ohio, Nebraska, and North Dakota — established sentence modification mechanisms that allow correctional officials to reduce the prison sentences of eligible prisoners;

• Drug offense reforms – Four states — Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, and Ohio — revised penalties for certain drug offenses and authorized alternatives to prison as a sentencing option in specified circumstances. In addition, Idaho and Florida expanded the eligibility criteria for drug courts in order to expand their impact.

• Death penalty – Illinois abolished the death penalty, becoming the sixteenth state to eliminate the sentencing option;

• Probation revocation reforms – North Carolina restricted the use of prison as a sentencing option for certain persons who violate the conditions of probation; and..

• Juvenile offender sentencing reforms – Georgia authorized sentence modifications for certain juvenile defendants with felony offenses by allowing judges to depart from the statutory range when considering the youth’s background.

NOTE: California is not exactly high on the list of the states who’ve done well with reform.

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IN COLBERT V. THE SUPREME COURT OVER CITIZENS UNITED, THE COMEDIAN MAY BE WINNING

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick has this essay on the topic, and you must read it. Immediately. Really.

Here’s a clip:

When President Obama criticized Citizens United two years ago in his State of the Union address, at least three justices came back at him with pitchforks and shovels. In the end, most court watchers scored it a draw. But when a comedian with a huge national platform started ridiculing the court last summer, the stakes changed completely. This is no pointy-headed deconstruction unspooling on the legal blogs. Colbert has spent the past few months making every part of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Citizen United look utterly ridiculous. And the court, which has no access to cameras (by its own choosing), no press arm, and no discernible comedic powers, has had to stand by and take it on the chin.

It all started when Colbert announced that, as permitted by Citizens United, he planned to form a super PAC (“Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow”). As he explained to his viewers, his hope was that “Colbert Nation could have a voice, in the form of my voice, shouted through a megaphone made of cash … the American dream. And that dream is simple. That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections.”

Then last June, like a winking, eyebrow-wagging Mr. Smith, Colbert went to Washington and testified before the FEC, which granted him permission to launch his super PAC (over the objections of his parent company Viacom) and accept unlimited contributions from his fans so he might sway elections. (He tweeted before his FEC appearance that PAC stands for “Plastic And/Or Cash.”) In recent weeks, Colbert has run several truly insane attack ads (including one accusing Mitt Romney of being a serial killer). Then, with perfect comedic pitch, Colbert handed off control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart (lampooning the FEC rules about coordination between “independent PACS” and candidates with a one-page legal document and a Vulcan mind meld). Colbert then managed to throw his support to non-candidate Herman Cain in the South Carolina primary, placing higher on the ballot than Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Michele Bachmann….

Read the rest.

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