Finalists for U.S. Marshal

They are: James S. Higgins, Eben Morales and Amos Rojas Jr..

Many of you will remember Jaime Higgins, who is an ATF agent, currently on assignment in Vancouver, Canada. His wife is Celeste Higgins, a former AFPD in Miami.

Florida drug laws ruled unconstitutional

Today Judge Mary Scriven from the Middle District granted a writ of habeas corpus and declared Florida’s drug law unconstitutional. The case is Shelton v. Dept. of Corrections. NACDL filed this amicus brief . Here's the intro to the order:

On May 13, 2002, the Florida Legislature enacted changes to Florida’s Drug Abuse Prevention and Control law, FLA. STAT. § 893.13, as amended by FLA. STAT. § 893.101. By this enactment, Florida became the only state in the nation expressly to eliminate mens rea as an element of a drug offense. This case, challenging the constitutionality of that law, was filed following Plaintiff’s conviction for delivery of cocaine without the jury being required to consider his intent in any respect and the subsequent imposition of an eighteen year sentence following his conviction. Upon consideration of all relevant filings, case law, and being otherwise fully advised, the Court GRANTS Petitioner’s request for habeas relief (Dkt. 1), and finds that FLA. STAT. § 893.13 is unconstitutional on its face.

Full disclosure: I was one of the co-signors of the amicus brief for NACDL, authored by Todd Foster.

BREAKING -- JNC sends 4 names to Senators

Your next federal judge will be one of these four people:

Jerald Bagley
John O'Sullivan
Robin Rosenbaum
John Thornton

Two State Circuit judges and two Federal Magistrates. I'm picturing a cage match -- Bagley and Thornton vs. O'Sullivan and Rosenbaum. Who wins that one?

Update-- happy to report that Judge Moreno's letters were cited yesterday in the Senate. Hopefully they will have some impact. Here's the link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-07-25/pdf/CREC-2011-07-25-pt1-PgS4860.pdf#page=1

HT: SFL

"Characterizing a government as a pimp is far from advocating violence."

That was Irfan Khan's lawyer Sowmya Bharathi, challenging the strength of the evidence against her client who is accused of helping to finance part of the Pakistani Taliban terror group. Love the quote! Plus it gave me some inspiration for the morning:



More on the case from Curt Anderson's article:

The son of a Muslim cleric in South Florida was a key part of his father's alleged finance network for the Pakistani Taliban terror group and shared the older man's support for violent attacks, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.
Agent Michael Ferlazzo said at a bail hearing that 37-year-old Irfan Khan appears to advocate violence repeatedly on some of the more than 1,000 phone calls the FBI recorded between him and his father, brother and other alleged conspirators.

On one call, Ferlazzo said, Irfan Khan referred to Pakistan's government as “big pimps.”

“They're talking about violent opposition to the government,” Ferlazzo said. On another call, the agent said, Irfan Khan seemed pleased that people feared the Pakistani Taliban “because of how lethal they had become.”
***
But Irfan Khan's attorney, Sowmaya Bharathi, said most of his comments could be chalked up to passionate political talk about Pakistan's government and its troubles, not evidence of support for terrorism.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with people exchanging information about horrible events in a part of the world they have a connection to,” Bharathi said. “Characterizing a government as a pimp is far from advocating violence.”

She said nearly two dozen people, including members of Irfan Khan's cricket team, were willing to put up cash and property to secure his release on bail. She noted that he has a wife and two young children in Florida and would be able to get a job driving a taxi if released.

“He is going to stay here and fight the charges,” Bharathi said.
Jordan has not said when he will rule on bail for Izhar Khan, who is imam at a mosque in suburban Margate. Hafiz Khan is imam at Miami's oldest mosque.

Chief Judge starts letter writing campaign for Kathy Williams and Bob Scola

Congrats to Bob Scola, who received a unanimous voice vote today getting out of the judiciary committee.

Now, Chief Judge Moreno has written letters to Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Harry Reid urging confirmation by the full Senate of Kathy Williams and Bob Scola before the August recess. The intro from the letters:

As Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, I urge you to expedite the Senate's confirmation of Kathleen Williams and Robert Scola to the positions of district judges in our district. I understand that the Judiciary Committee has sent both nominations by unanimous voice vote and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate. Ms. Williams, our district's Federal Public Defender, has been awaiting confirmation for the longest period of any present nominee to the district court in the entire country. State Judge Robert Scola's nomination is of a more recent vintage but the litigants are eagerly awaiting his confirmation.

The judgeship Ms. Williams has been nominated to fill has been vacant for two years! At the present time, our district has three vacancies. Unfilled positions in our Court present an undue hardship on the citizens residing in the Southern District of Florida, particularly those with cases pending in the affected division of the Court. Our district is huge and heavily populated. It includes the most populous counties in Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward (where Fort Lauderdale is located) and Palm Beach Counties. The district also includes Monroe, St. Lucie, Highlands, Okeechobee, Martin, and Indian River Counties.

Now it's our turn. Please follow Judge Moreno's lead and send letters now to get Williams and Scola confirmed.