Tuesday News Roundup
Convicted September 11th collaborator Zacarias Moussaoui attempted to withdraw his guilty plea and seek a new trial on Monday. Moussaoui claims that his original guilty plea was entered because his "understanding of the American legal system was completely flawed." Believing that the emotions surrounding September 11th would lead to his conviction and the imposition of a death sentence regardless of the facts presented, Moussaoui claimed to be "extremely surprised" when the jury spared his life. Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the motion, citing Rule 11(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, "[a]fter the court imposes sentence, the defendant may not withdraw a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, and the plea may be set aside only on direct appeal or collateral attack." (Hat Tip: SCOTUSblog)
White House Staff Secretary Brett Kavanaugh, nominated for a seat on the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, is back before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for a second round of questioning. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee requested the new hearing in order to question the nominee on any possible role he had in the NSA domestic wiretapping program and any possible relationship with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Kavanaugh will also be asked about his lack of judicial experience, for while he has clerked for two members of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kavanaugh has never served on the bench. On Monday, the American Bar Association lowered its rating of Kavanaugh from "majority well-qualified, minority qualified" to "majority qualified, minority well-qualified." This downgrade came after some members deemed Kavanaugh to be "insulated" and some questioned his "freedom from bias and open-mindedness."
In Maine, a mother pleaded innocent to a charge of misdemeanor assault for helping her daughter make cookies laced with Ex-Lax which were to be given to the girl's teacher as revenge for a low grade. However, the teacher shared the cookies with her students, which lead to four middle school students becoming ill. (Hat Tip: Orin Kerr)
Written By:Adam On May 9, 2006 4:57 PM
Which members made the statements that Kavanaugh was "insulated" or lacked "freedom from bias and open-mindedness"? Looking to the ABA statement, those sorts of comments came from other interviewees, not from the members of the committee (i.e., the interviewers).
Here's the committee's bottom line:
"This nominee enjoys a solid reputation for integrity, intellectual capacity, and writing and analytical ability. The concern has been and remains focused on the breadth of his professional experience, and the most recent supplemental evaluation has enhanced that concern. When taken in combination with the additional concern over whether this nominee is so insulated that he will be unable to judge fairly in the future, and placed alongside the consistently praiseworthy statements about the nominee in many other areas, the 2006 rating can be seen in context. A substantial majority of the Standing Committee believes that Mr. Kavanaugh is indeed qualified to serve on the federal bench."
Your readers deserve full information; I'm not sure why you'd be so eager to dwell a couple of allegations ultimately rejected by the committee.