RIP Judge James Paine

Sad news to report -- Judge Paine has passed away. Here's the PBP obit:

The flag outside the federal courthouse flies at half-mast this morning following the death Sunday of one of Palm Beach County's longest serving, hardest working federal jurists, Sr. U.S. District Judge James C. Paine.
Paine, 85, died after spending his final few days in hospice care. Funeral services are preliminarily planned for Thursday, his son, Jim Paine said.
Paine was appointed a federal judge by President Carter in 1979, retiring 28 years later in 2007.
He worked so much there was a joke around the federal courthouse: How did you know Judge Paine was on vacation? He wore a plaid shirt to work.
If you ask a passel of South Florida lawyers about Paine — winners or losers in cases from all quarters — many will mention his impartiality and demeanor. That he was the perfect persona of a federal judge, yet still a humble human being.
Paine, of Palm Beach, spoke at his retirement reception in 2007 saying he was flabbergasted by the number of people who came out on that rainy day.
"You folks are awfully nice to be here," he said in his hallmark genteel way.

And here's his Wiki entry:

Paine was born in 1924 in Valdosta, Georgia. His family moved to Palm Beach County in his childhood. Paine graduated from Palm Beach High School in 1941. He received an Associate of Arts degree from the University of Florida in 1943.
Paine joined the United States Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1946 and served in the Aleutian Islands on a fleet tugboat, taking part in salvage, diving, target towing, and combat actions during the bombardment of the Kurile Islands. After returning to the United States, Paine received a Bachelor of Science from Columbia Business School in 1947 and an LL.B. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1950.
Paine was in private practice in West Palm Beach from 1950 to 1979. President Jimmy Carter nominated Paine to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 12, 1979, to the new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. Confirmed by the Senate on October 4, 1979, he received commission on October 5, 1979.
While a judge on the district court, Paine presided over several notable cases, including
The trial of the Seminole leader James E. Billie on charges of killing an endangered Florida panther, [1]
The trial of John Piazza for NFL match-fixing [2]
The revocation of U.S. citizenship proceedings of Bohdan Koziy. [3]
The trial of stockbroker Leslie Roberts on mail fraud and conspiracy charges. [4]
Paine assumed senior status on May 20, 1992.

"Any accurate depiction of the criminal justice microcosm must include the vital role of the coffee shop."

That's Milton Hirsch on the absence of a coffee shop in the new federal courthouse. John Pacenti covers the issue here:

Three years after the Ferguson courthouse was dedicated, the chief judge is fed up with the General Services Administration and is demanding to know when the planned cafeteria will materialize. Sustenance is available. Two vending machines are the only options right now. The delay in what some say is a necessary amenity prompted U.S. District Chief Judge Federico Moreno to fire off a letter Feb. 19 to the landlord, acting regional GSA commissioner James S. Weller. “I have absolutely no confidence that the restaurant is in reality to open soon,” Moreno wrote. His account of his dealings with the agency on the cafeteria reads like a classic bureaucratic nightmare. Moreno first asked when the restaurant would be opening Sept. 5, 2008, and was advised an exhaust hood, electrical wiring and fire suppression equipment would be installed shortly thereafter. The GSA said the hood vendor was on site that month. But dates came and went. The agency has said work on the cafeteria would be completed by last June, last November and then this past January. The exhaust hood has been particularly troublesome. Moreno said he was told last April 14 that hood work still needed to be completed. Moreno and Weller met in his chambers last July 21, and the judge was told the next day the “work is progressing.” In September, the GSA advised the vent hood contract had just been awarded, and fabrication would take five weeks. An electrical contractor was “standing by.” The GSA advised Moreno in January that “the remaining electrical work came to halt when it was learned that certain electrical components were missing.” Now, Moreno has been informed a “soft opening” is tentatively set for this month. “GSA’s most recent response concerning a hopeful soft opening in March is the same sort of response we have been receiving to our inquiries for the past year and half — a list of excuses or reasons for delay,” the judge’s letter said.

And you can always count on Judge Palermo for a good quote:

U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Palermo, whose courtroom is in another building, refers to the courthouse as the “Vegas building.” “I just think there is a lost of wasted space,” he said. U.S. District Judge Paul Huck, a Ferguson tenant, said the building is just going through some growing pains. “It’s going to be a signature building in downtown for years to come,” he said. Still, he said it’s a little roomy, and there has been some tweaking here and there, particularly on the sound system. “It has some nice features that are good for lawyers and jurors in the presentation of evidence. That is a major improvement,” Huck said.

The Chief isn't happy:

Moreno, though, has thrown down the gauntlet, saying he is embarrassed by the lack of a cafeteria at the courthouse due to the GSA’s failure to deliver. “Our government is at its best when we see our armed forces in action,” the chief judge wrote. “Unfortunately, it is perceived at its worst by the thousands of jurors, lawyers, staff, litigants, etc., when they see GSA’s promises on such a simple task end in delay after delay.”

Wanted: Guest Blogger

It's been a hectic week for your favorite federal blogger. Yesterday in Tampa; today in Ft. Pierce. I promise to be better next week. In


the meantime, here's a picture of the federal courthouse in Ft. Pierce. They are building a new one up here so this old relic doesn't have much time left. Have a nice weekend everyone.

More on Scalia vs. Alito

I've often said that Justice Scalia is the most criminal-defense friendly Justice, while Justice Alito is the least. More support for this argument from yesterday's opinion in USA v. Curtis Johnson. The Court ruled 7-2 that a “violent felony” under federal law requires the use of physical violence, thereby reversing and remanding the lower court which found that a misdemeanor battery counted. Justice Scalia wrote for the majority, while Justice Alito dissented, joined by Justice Thomas. The full opinion is here. The case came out of the Middle District of Florida, and I was lucky enough to attend the Supreme Court argument. (Here are my comments from after the argument).

It's always fun reading a Scalia opinion. Here's a taste from one footnote:

Even further afield is the dissent’s argument, post, at 2–3, that since §924(e)(2)(B)(ii) requires conduct that "presents a serious potential riskof physical injury to another," §924(e)(2)(B)(i) must not. That is rather like saying a provision which includes (i) apples and (ii) overripe oranges must exclude overripe apples. It does not follow.

Is 5 hours enough time to conduct voir dire?

That's the question before the Supreme Court in the Jeff Skilling case. Here's the summary from ScotusBlog:

With Justice Stephen G. Breyer leading the way, the Court probed deeply into the questioning of potential jurors at Skilling’s trial in Houston, examining whether District Judge Sim Lake took too little time to ferret out potential prejudice or stopped short of following up to test jurors’ pre-trial intimations — or outright conclusions — that the accused Enron brass deserved to be convicted. Several of the other Justices questioned the brevity of that probing, but there was no evident consensus about what the Court should now do about it. Even Justice Breyer, who was the most troubled about Judge Lake’s performance (“I’m genuinely concern about a fair trial”), repeatedly stressed that he did not want the Court to go too far to second-guess such performances. “I’m worried about controlling too much,” he said on the second point.

And the NYTimes:

Mr. Srinivasan disputed that, and several justices appeared sympathetic to his argument. The lawyer said Judge Lake had spent only five hours on the task, posing cursory questions to jurors and taking them at their word that they would be fair despite evidence to the contrary.
By contrast, Mr. Srinivasan said, questioning in the trial of Timothy McVeigh for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, took 18 days after a motion for change of venue from Oklahoma City to Denver was granted.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the two cases were very different. In Mr. Skilling’s case, she said, “what’s involved is money rather than life or limb.”
Mr. Srinivasan said that extended questioning was not unusual in less serious cases, saying it had taken six days to select jurors in Martha Stewart’s trial for lying to federal investigators.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy indicated that the questioning in Mr. Skilling’s case had been too brief. “It’s hard for me to think,” he said, that the questioning “would have been much shorter even if there had been no showing of pervasive prejudice.”

Here in the SDFLA, most judges give about 10 minutes a side for lawyers to question jurors. Some do all the questioning and do not allow any attorney voir dire. Most juries are selected in a day or less. Can fair juries really be picked so quickly? Let's see what the Court says in Skilling...