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Southern District of Florida Blog (10 unread)

• Government responds to Dore Louis' motion for NSA records

  Number of comments: 2
  Last week, the blog broke the story of Dore Louis' motion seeking NSA phone records, and Judge Rosenbaum's order requiring the government to respond.  The story got a lot of attention, which was pretty neat.
  
  The government filed a short motion this morning, asking the Court' [...]
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• Justice Kagan dials Jenny at 867-5309

  Number of comments: 2
  Gotta love this -- Justice Kagan cited the famous 1982 Tommy Tutone song in American Trucking Association v. City of Los Angeles:
  
  

  Under th[e] contract, a company may transport cargo at the Port in exchange for complying with various requirements. The two directly at issue here compel [...]

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• Supreme Court reverses 11th in Davila v. United States

  Number of comments: 2
  Apropos of the previous post dealing with the 11th Circuit, the Supreme Court decided Davila today, 9-0:
  

  This case concerns Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Crim- inal Procedure, which governs guilty pleas. Two provi- sions of that rule are key here. The first, Rule 11(c)(1), instructs that [...]

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• Interesting opinions from the 11th Circuit

  Number of comments: 1
  1.  Judge Pryor doesn't like dissentals, which I know all too well.  His latest concurral is in Michael Morgan's case.  He starts this way:
  
  

  I write to respond to the dissents filed by three of my colleagues about the
  denial of a rehearing en banc. I [...]

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• Go, Dore, Go!

  Number of comments: 10
  There's a lengthy multi-defendant trial before Judge Rosenbaum right now. I've been hearing lots of interesting (and sometimes funny -- including Marc Seitles putting on a dress during a cross!) stories from the trial, and this one is worth sharing. Dore Louis filed a motion for phone records, which the [...]
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• Is sentencing out of whack?

  Number of comments: 2
  A number of people sent me interesting emails about sentencing philosophy after reading yesterday's post. One reader sent me this link to Judge Laurie Smith Camp's posted philosophy on sentencing, which ends this way:
  
  As a judge, I do not consider my role to be that of [...]
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• A wonderful essay by Judge Kopf.

  Number of comments: 1
  Here.
  
  The whole thing is really worth a read.  But here is the intro:
  

  
  If, over a long career, you sentence a lot of people to prison, several things can happen to you.   Most of them are bad.  Here’s a short list of some of [...]

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• Friday news and notes

  Number of comments: 6
  1.  People were worried about DNA collection....  now our government is mining our telephone calls with secret court orders.  James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, responds here.
  
  
  
  2.  In lighter news, AUSA Mike Garofola is still on the Bachelorette. Reality Steve has this [...]
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• Iowa judge to prosecutors: "You won't like me when I'm angry."

  Number of comments: 4
  And this Obama appointee is angry because prosecutors weren't arguing for a high enough sentence:
  
  One of Iowa's most prominent federal judges is accused of improperly playing the role of "prosecutor-in-chief" in criminal cases by ordering the U.S. Attorney's Office to provide evidence that can result' [...]
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• Judge Scola says no to unsafe courthouse

  Number of comments: 3
  Thanks to a great tipster, I am able to report that Judge Scola said in a recent scheduling order that he will not be holding trials or hearings in the flooded courthouse.
  
  From the order: "Until the unacceptable, unsafe, and unaddressed flooding and water-intrusion issues affecting the Fort Lauderdale" [...]
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