We really need judges to step up prosecutorial misconduct...

...because no one else will.  The legislature in New York tried, setting up a commission on prosecutorial misconduct.  But it was struck down!  From the AP:

A New York judge has struck down a law that would have created a state commission tasked with investigating prosecutorial misconduct.

Justice David Weinstein declared the law unconstitutional in a decision issued Tuesday, marking a win for a prosecutors’ association that sued over the statute.

The law would have set up an 11-member commission to probe misconduct claims against New York state prosecutors. The panel would have been appointed by the governor, Legislature and New York’s chief judge.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, first signed the law in 2018 and later approved amendments after constitutionality concerns were raised.

Supporters say the law would set up a new way of stopping prosecutors who abuse their power. Cuomo’s office has touted the commission as the nation’s first and said prosecutorial misconduct can lead to wrongful convictions.

The law would have allowed the commission to censure or admonish a prosecutor. It also gave the panel the ability to recommend to the governor that a prosecutor be removed,

Prosecutors have called the law unconstitutional.

In their lawsuit, the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York argued the measure violated the separation of powers and gave state lawmakers too much oversight over independent district attorney’s offices.

Sigh.

Patrick Mahomes is going to Disney World.

And so are all the federal and state judges (and lawyers who want to be judges) to attend the Federalist Society meeting, which was this weekend in Orlando.

.@PatrickMahomes is going to Disney World. And he's bringing everybody. #ChiefsKingdom #SBLIV pic.twitter.com/D4VgzQw9Yx

— NFL (@NFL) February 3, 2020

But should they?  There's a proposal to limit judicial membership in the organization.  Justice Thomas, who was at the meeting, spoke out against the proposal (via WSJ):

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas questioned a proposed ethics rule that would discourage federal judges from belonging to the conservative Federalist Society and its liberal counterpart, the American Constitution Society.

Justice Thomas has long participated in events sponsored by the Federalist Society, which has groomed many of President Trump’s judicial nominees.

“And now I think they’re about to silence the Federalist Society. So I guess I can’t come back,” Justice Thomas quipped Friday at Federalist Society convention at Walt Disney World.

“Some of us are fighting back,” responded U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a former Thomas law clerk who interviewed his former boss before the audience.

The ethics proposal, circulated last month by the federal judiciary’s policy-making body, the Judicial Conference of the U.S., would tighten existing guidance that lets judges belong to the two groups but not take leadership roles.

My summer trial schedule is more important than your family summer vacation

That was a NY federal judge to a defense lawyer in the Epstein BOP guard case. So ridiculous. Would it have been so terrible to set the trial either before or after the trial? From the NY Post:

A lawyer for one of the corrections officers accused of falsifying records the night Jeffrey Epstein died got into a shouting match Thursday with a Manhattan federal judge — because she set a trial date that landed right in the middle of a trip to Italy.
Tova Noel’s lawyer Jason Foy objected when Judge Analisa Torres scheduled trial for his client and Michael Thomas to begin June 22, saying his daughter would be in Italy and his family was planning to join her, but hadn’t actually booked anything yet.
“Counsel, use Skype,” Torres told him curtly after Foy expressed displeasure at the trial date.
“No, no, no,” he responded, his voice rising. “I will not use Skype.”
The back-and-forth escalated, with Torres repeatedly telling Foy to “sit down” while he argued over her, saying “this is not just about vacation.”

"Agents seized this mom’s $15,000 in a raid. Now the Supreme Court may weigh in to help her."

That's the title of this Sun-Sentinel piece on a cert petition that has a lot of appeal:

A mom was saving up money for her daughter’s 15th birthday, planning an unforgettable coming-of-age celebration. Imagine the mother’s surprise when federal agents raided her home and seized the $15,000 in cash she was planning to use to pay for the party.

Miladis Salgado is a 54-year-old Colombian immigrant who splits her time working at an airport duty-free store and Subway sandwich shop. It was heartbreaking to lose the funds: “That was money I’d saved for my daughter’s quinceanera,” she said.

The agents raided Salgado’s suburban West Kendall home in May 2015 because they were acting on a bogus tip from a confidential narcotics informant, according to court records. But the lead agent on the case would later admit the cash was clean, federal records show.

Still, it took almost two years and a legal battle for the government to give Salgado back her cash, and according to her court filings, federal authorities refused to pay her attorney’s fees, which means she’s still out $5,000.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in and decide if the government has a responsibility to repay Salgado for all her costs. The Supreme Court has yet to agree to hear the case, but the court has taken the step of asking the U.S. Solicitor General to prepare a response, which, according to Salgado’s attorney Justin Pearson, is a good sign that the court may hear Salgado out.

Jane Raskin for the President

Whether you are for or against the POTUS, it's pretty impressive that Miami lawyer Jane Raskin is on the legal team representing him. She is the one lawyer on the President's team that has stayed below the radar, which is also impressive.  She's doing much better than Starr, who made the absurd argument that this is the age of impeachment.  That may be, but Starr gets all the credit for that.  How did they let him of all people make that argument?