Unbelievable

5-4 per Justice Thomas in Connick v. Thompson:

Held: A district attorney’s office may not be held liable under §1983 for failure to train its prosecutors based on a single Brady violation.

One reason given is that lawyers learn enough about Brady from law school and the bar exam. Justice Ginsburg for the dissenters rightfully blasts this: The Court nevertheless holds Canton’s example inapposite. It maintains that professional obligations, ethics rules, and training—including on-the-job training—set attorneys apart from other municipal employees, includingrookie police officers. Ante, at 12–15. Connick “had every incentive at trial to attempt to establish” that he could reasonably rely on the professional education and status of his staff. Cf. ante, at 10, n. 6. But the jury heard and rejected his argument to that effect. Tr. 364, 576–577, 834–835.

The Court advances Connick’s argument with greater clarity, but with no greater support. On what basis can one be confident that law schools acquaint students with prosecutors’ unique obligation under Brady? Whittaker told the jury he did not recall covering Brady in his criminal procedure class in law school. Tr. 335. Dubelier’s alma mater, like most other law faculties, does not make criminal procedure a required course. Connick suggested that the bar examination ensures that new attorneys will know what Brady demands. Tr. 835. Research indicates, however, that from 1980 to the present, Brady questions have not accounted for even 10% of the total points in the criminal law and procedure section of any administration of the Louisiana Bar Examination. A person sitting for the Louisiana Bar Examination, moreover, need pass only five of the exam’s nine sections.23 One can qualify for admission to the professionwith no showing of even passing knowledge of criminal law and procedure.

The majority’s suggestion that lawyers do not need Brady training because they “are equipped with the tools to find, interpret, and apply legal principles,” ante, at 17– 18, “blinks reality” and is belied by the facts of this case. See Brief for Former Federal Civil Rights Officials and Prosecutors as Amici Curiae 13. Connick himself recog-nized that his prosecutors, because of their inexperience, were not so equipped. Indeed, “understanding and com-plying with Brady obligations are not easy tasks, and theappropriate way to resolve Brady issues is not always self-evident.” Brief for Former Federal Civil Rights Officials and Prosecutors as Amici Curiae 6. “Brady compliance,”therefore, “is too much at risk, and too fundamental to the fairness of our criminal justice system, to be taken for granted,” and “training remains critical.” Id., at 3, 7.

Here's the AP article.

Only in Miami

I just love these only in Miami stories about the Jose Canseco having his twin brother Ozzie standing in for him at a celebrity fight and about Luke Campbell running for mayor.

If you want to stick to the regular federal news, well then here's a story for you about why it's so difficult to get a cellphone into the courthouse.

Ft. Lauderale federal courthouse described as "worst" by "federal officials"

The Sun-Sentinel has the story of renewed plans to build a new federal courthouse in Broward:

Broward County could get two new courthouses on the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale instead of just one — a potential government investment of at least $500 million. A high-powered task force of federal judges, lawyers and politicians has revived a dormant proposal to build a new federal courthouse. They have their eyes on Broward County's waterfront land for a federal-county court campus next to the riverfront jail. Broward County commissioners voted last year to build a $328 million county courthouse on the existing county court site, south of the river, just west of Third Avenue. The new federal courthouse would go somewhere nearby, on that same block of county land.

***

Federal officials decided years ago to replace the existing federal courthouse, which sits on Broward Boulevard, abutting Third Avenue. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, federal buildings must have safety buffers at least 100 feet wide — a requirement the existing courthouse doesn't meet. It's also woefully small, officials complain, and was described by federal officials on a recent visit as "the worst that they have encountered,'' according to a March 15 task force memo written by Scherer. Fort Lauderdale "has moved to the 8th position on a list of 100 communities needing a new federal courthouse,'' Scherer's memo said. That would put it in line for possible funding in the 2016-2018 timeframe, unless it can be bumped up, as the task force hopes. The group also believes building a joint project could reduce costs, with both courthouses benefiting from the same security and roadway work.

Pictures from Friday's event

SFL posted some of my amateur cell phone pictures over at his blog, but Judge Scott Silverman took some great shots:

Okay, Judge Silverman didn't take the Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan picture, but both panels discussed them. See what you missed.

Friday afternoon quick hits

1. The symposium was really interesting, especially Rumpole and SFL trying to partipicate by speaker phone and Twitter.

2. Another book on legal writing. I disagree with Russ Guberman's point here:

Has legal writing changed over the years? And if so, for the better or for the worse?
I hate to mythologize the past, but legal writing is changing for the worse. The advent of technology has ushered in an era of cutting-and-pasting that makes the finished product often read like a patchwork quilt, or as what Judge Ruggero Aldisert famously called a “promiscuous uttering of citations.”

3. Via How Appealing, the D.C. Circuit takes another shot at the 4th Amendment here:

"We conclude it was not clearly established in 2002 that the strip search of a person being introduced into a detention facility violated the Fourth Amendment."

Judge Judith Rogers dissented: "This is the first time a circuit court of appeals has suggested that the protections of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution against unreasonable searches do not extend to an individual arrested for a non-violent minor offense who is awaiting arraignment apart from the general population of detainees, and is subjected to a strip search in the absence of reasonable suspicion he is hiding contraband or weapons."

I'm out. Have a nice weekend.

Historical Society Centennial Symposium

Tim Ravich and Robert Kuntz are putting on a symposium tomorrow titled: "The Vital, Tempestuous and Changing Relationship Between the Court and Media." It's in Courtroom 4-2 of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, starting at 8:30 -- 12:15. Speakers include Roy Black, John Hogan, Kendall Coffee, Brian Tannebaum, Robert Levenson, Joe Serota, Mark Seigan, Rumpole, SFL, Eddie Dominguez, and yours truly.

Here is how the event is described:

Throughout its long history, the 11th Judicial Circuit has hosted countless high profile cases. This three part, half-day symposium will showcase some of those trials that have impacted our community, and at times, our nation.

Part I – A 45-minute multi-media historical presentation by the 11th Judicial Circuit’s Court Historian Judge Scott J. Silverman. This presentation will focus on executions of convicted criminal defendants in Dade County between 1901 and 1917, and Giuseppe Zangara’s attempted assassination of President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Miami’s Bayfront Park in February 1930.

Part II - This portion of the symposium consists of a panel discussion of the William Lozano shooting of Clement Lloyd, the 1989 Miami riots, and Lozano’s 1993 re-trail.

Part III – The aspect of the symposium will conclude with a 1-hour panel discussion of the role the media in the courtroom. The discussion will include blogging, twitter, email, cameras in the courtroom, and feeding the 24-hour news cycle.

Talented economic crimes prosecutors leaving USAO (UPDATED)

Three of them that I know about:

Jeffrey Neiman (pictured), who is one of the leading tax prosecutors in the country, and was part of the UBS team, is starting his own firm and will be sharing space with Fred Hadaad in Broward.

Ryan Stumphauzer, who is the Deputy Chief of Economic Crimes and the Health Care Fraud Coordinator, and Ryan O'Quinn, who was Senior Counsel at the SEC and is now a securities prosecutor, are forming a partnership and will be practicing in Miami.

Three good guys. I'm sure this is going to be tough on the economic crimes section.

UPDATED -- I forgot to mention Andy Levi who recently left the economics crimes division as well, and is now at Nardello as "head of the Miami office."

Levi and O'Quinn were running the Mutual Benefits case (the expected 8 month trial before Judge Jordan), so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

"Why don’t we just abolish the exclusionary rule? That would be really simple. Whatever evidence tends to prove the truth comes in.”

Uh-oh. That was Justice Scalia this morning in Davis v. United States:

JUSTICE SCALIA: Actually, why don't we just abolish the exclusionary rule? That would be really simple. Whatever evidence tends to prove the truth comes in. That would be a very simple system if we're looking for just simplicity, wouldn't it?

MR. DREEBEN: It would be an extremely simple system.

JUSTICE SCALIA: You're not proposing that, though?

MR. DREEBEN: Not in this case, because this case represents only an application of existing doctrine in the Court with respect to the purposes of the exclusionary rule.

As much as Scalia is the best friend of criminal defendants in 6th Amendment and sentencing cases, he is no friend of the 4th Amendment.

Volokh conspirator Orin Kerr argued for Mr. Davis in a case out of the 11th Circuit, and definitely held his own in a very difficult case. According to ScotusBlog:

Kerr, asking the Court to avoid simple labels, said the main problem with expanding the “good faith” exception so as to allow police to rely on Circuit Court precedent was that it would compromise the effect of the later Supreme Court ruling rejecting that precedent. Lawyers, the professor contended, would be discouraged from taking test cases to the Supreme Court to try to get new rules of Fourth Amendment law if it turned out that their client could not benefit from it: as soon as they asked for a new rule, the prosecution would counter that the “good faith” exception would take hold, and the client would lose anyway — even while winning on the constitutional point. That scenario, Kerr said, would mean the Supreme Court was merely issuing “advisory opinions,” and defense lawyers would see no reason to go for such unhelpful results.

The whole transcript is here. It's an interesting read.

In other SCOTUS news, the 9th Circuit got slapped. The LA Times:

The U.S. Supreme Court reinstated a Sacramento man's conviction and life sentence Monday for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in her apartment, dismissing an appellate court's decision that the prosecutor may have had racial reasons for removing two African Americans from the jury.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had granted a new trial to Steven Frank Jackson in July. The court said the prosecutor at Jackson's 2004 trial had used pretexts to justify his challenges to the two African American jurors, because the reasons he gave could have applied to jurors he left on the panel.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, called the appeals court decision "inexplicable." The appellate judges should have deferred to state court rulings that upheld the prosecutor's explanations, the high court said.
***
"There was simply no basis for the Ninth Circuit to reach the opposite conclusion, particularly in such a dismissive manner," the court said.

Yikes.

While we're on the Supreme Court, it granted cert today in a sad case from the 11th, Maples v. Alabama. The issue: Whether the Eleventh Circuit properly held that there was no “cause” to excuse any procedural default where petitioner was blameless for the default, the state's own conduct contributed to the default, and petitioner's attorneys of record were no longer functioning as his agents at the time of any default.

Pretty crazy what happened in the case -- a death-row inmate missed a filing deadline that he never knew about because a BigLaw mailroom clerk messed up. The 11th Circuit said the Alabama courts were correct to procedurally default Maples, saying that finality wins out. Off you go to get your needle. No joke. Judge Barkett dissented and the Supremes took cert. (Judge Barkett's dissents are paying off). Here is the NY Times coverage of the case after former SG Gregory Garre of Latham & Watkins filed the cert petition.

Full disclosure -- I worked on the NACDL amicus brief filed in the 11th Circuit. Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter wrote excellent amicus briefs in the case.

UPDATED -- The New York Times covers the grant here. This is shocking to me: Troy King, Alabama’s attorney general, wrote that Mr. Maples had been represented by “a team of attorneys from a multimillion-dollar law firm” who should know that rules are rules.

“Filing deadlines apply to death row inmates,” Mr. King wrote. “Countless attorneys have missed filing deadlines over the years, and state and federal courts routinely dismissed their client’s tardy appeal as a consequence. This case is no different, and it presents nothing new or nationally compelling.”

Um, no different?! A man's life is on the line. Jeez.