Sorry for the slow blogging

I'll be back on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.

Judge William Thomas officially nominated to District Court

This is great news and fast. Let's hope that this is how it's going to be in the President's second term. Here is President Obama's press release:

President Obama Nominates Seven to the United States District Courts

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Obama nominated Valerie E. Caproni, Kenneth John Gonzales, Raymond P. Moore, Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, Judge William L. Thomas, Judge Analisa Torres and Derrick Kahala Watson for District Court judgeships.

"These individuals have demonstrated the talent, expertise, and fair-mindedness Americans expect and deserve from their judicial system," said President Obama.  "They also represent my continued commitment to ensure that the judiciary resembles the nation it serves.  I am grateful for their willingness to serve and confident that they will apply the law with the utmost impartiality and integrity.  Too many of our courtrooms stand empty.  I hope the Senate will promptly consider all of my nominees and ensure justice for everyday Americans.”

 ***

Judge William L. Thomas:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Judge William L. Thomas has served as a Circuit Judge in Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit since 2005, where he has presided over both civil and criminal matters.  For seven years, from 1997 to 2005, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Florida, where he represented indigent clients in federal criminal cases.  Judge Thomas began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender at the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office in 1994.  He received his J.D. in 1994 from the Temple University School of Law and his B.A. in 1991 from Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania.

***

HT: Glenn Sugameli

Anthony Mangione sentenced...

... to 70 months.

You remember him -- the former ICE chief who was caught with child porn on his computer. He then wiped the computer clean with techniques he learned from his time in ICE.

 The sentence was more than the minimum mandatory 60 month sentence he requested and less than the 87 months requested by prosecutors. Fair sentence?

Sonia Sotomayor on Sesame Street

Enjoy:

Big win for AFPD Tracy Dreispul

Appellate guru Tracy Dresipul has done it again, this time in United States v. Bellaizac-Hurtado.

Judge Pryor starts off his opinion this way, which summarizes the issue and the holding nicely:

This appeal presents a novel issue about the scope of congressional power to
proscribe conduct abroad: whether the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, 46
U.S.C. §§ 70503(a), 70506, exceeds the power of Congress to “define and
punish . . . Offences against the Law of Nations,” U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8, cl. 10, as
applied to the drug-trafficking activities of Yimmi Bellaizac-Hurtado, Pedro Felipe
Angulo-Rodallega, Albeiro Gonzalez-Valois, and Luis Carlos Riascos-Hurtado in
the territorial waters of Panama. Because we conclude that drug trafficking is not
an “Offence[] against the Law of Nations” and that Congress cannot
constitutionally proscribe the defendants’ conduct under the Offences Clause, we
vacate their convictions.