Judge Ungaro and red tape don't mix

"Bureaucracy doesn't exist to serve itself. It exists to serve the people.'' Well said by Judge Ungaro as she "lashed out" at a government lawyer representing the Justice and Homeland Security departments and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Anyone who has ever had to deal with the red tape of the immigration system knows how frustrating it can be.

Snubbed?

Judge Moreno continues to lead the "funniest judge in the district" poll, but there have been whispers that the poll is not valid because it did not include Magistrate Judge Klein. Sorry about the oversight!

Reverse Venue Issue

On February 14, 2006, the en banc 11th circuit will hear oral argument on the venue issue for the Cuban Five.

Now, the opposite issue has arisen in front of Judge Cohn. Here the Cuban exile defendants are claiming that the feds should not have brought the case against them in Ft. Lauderdale where there is barely any connection to the crime. Instead, they argue, the case should be transferred to Miami where the firearms were actually seized because in Miami they will receive a jury of their peers. ''[T]he government ignored the overwhelming ties of parties and witnesses to Miami-Dade and maneuvered to improve its chances of securing convictions by minimizing, if not eliminating, the participation of Cuban Americans in the petit jury and in the grand jury that returned the indictment,'' wrote their lawyers, Ben Kuehne, Dennis Kainen, Kendall Coffey and Arturo Hernandez. See the Herald article here.

I wonder how CABA will react to this. They just filed an amicus brief supporting the government in the 11th Circuit on the venue issue arguing that it was discriminatory for the panel to hold that the spies could not get a fair trial in Miami... Will they support the defense or the prosecution on this issue? I'm sure the spies are going to cite this case as an admission from the government as to jury dynamics in Miami.

Defenders of the government on this issue argue that if venue is even arguably proper in Ft. Lauderdale, the U.S. Attorney's office should not be faulted for bringing the case there if it thinks it will get a more favorable jury... Thoughts?

DBR covers our new Circuit Justice

Carl Jones does a nice job explaining the ramifications of our Circuit Justice changing from Kennedy to Thomas in today's Daily Business Review (UPDATE -- available from law.com here). We covered that change here. Here's an excerpt from Jones' article:

On Feb. 1 Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. assigned Thomas to oversee the 11th Circuit. The move was part of a shuffle following the confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito Jr. The power to grant emergency stays is most critical in death penalty cases. But it’s also a key method of freezing judgments and judicial orders in time-sensitive legal disputes like those that arose in the end-of-life case involving Terri Schiavo and in the 2000 presidential election recount battle. If a justice denies a petition, a litigant can still ask the other eight justices, or the full court, to review the case. But experts say the chances of being granted review decrease if the justice in charge of a circuit already has denied review. Thomas’ appointment to cover the 11th Circuit makes some Florida criminal defense lawyers nervous. “I don’t perceive Justice Thomas as being particularly friendly toward death penalty defendants,” said Neal DuPree, the Fort Lauderdale-based capital collateral regional counsel for South Florida. His state agency represents death row inmates in post-conviction habeas corpus petitions.

Elections v. Appointments?

Over at the MJB blog, there's a lot of talk about the state judicial elections and which judges are drawing opposition. The whole election of judges thing* is amazing to me. Judges aren't really permitted to campaign, except to post lots of signs around town. There is no debating the issues. There is no platform. There is just who has the better and more electable name. Seems silly...

We have it much better over here, don't we?

*Even more amazing to me is that our state PD has to run for election. How do you campaign -- "I lost more cases than anyone else?"

Unruly defendants...

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be put on trial in the United States for involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was ejected from a federal courtroom on Monday at the start of the jury selection process because of an outburst in which he shouted "I am Al Qaeda." He was thrown out of court a total of 4 times for his continued outbursts.

So what should the judge do? This guy shouldn't be permitted to make a mockery of the system. But there is no easy solution... Someone mentioned to me that they should muzzle him, but imagine that spectacle in Court.

Interesting contrast with Moussaoui and the Padilla defendants here in the Southern District of Florida, who have been described as courteous, respectful, and polite during court appearances. The judge in the Padilla case ordered that the defendants' shackles be removed during court.

News and notes

Some quick Friday afternoon news:

1. Judge Marcia Cooke ordered that Jose Padilla not be shackled in Court.

2. Judge William Zloch sentenced attorney Sam Burstyn to 42 months (18 months less than the 60 month statutory cap the government was asking for and 35 months more than the credit time served sentence the defense was asking for). Burstyn scored out much higher than the 60 month cap (for a 371 conspiracy) under the guidelines.

New FBI Chief in Miami

The FBI has announced that Jonathan I. Solomon is the new special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami division. Mr. Solomon has been with the FBI for more than twenty years and had a brief stint here in South Florida in 2004. It will interesting to see how this will affect the number and types of cases prosecuted in the Southern District of Florida.