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"When freeing criminal defendants is conservative"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this terrific commentary by Marie Gryphon in the "Supreme Court Insider" section of The National Law Journal. here is how it starts: Criminal defendants can't get a break from conservative judges, according to conventional wisdom.  Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist reinforced the stereotype with his famously inartful remark that a "judge who is a 'strict constructionist' in constitutional matters will generally not be favorably inclined toward claims of either criminal defendants or civil rights plaintiffs ? the latter two groups having been the principal beneficiaries of the Supreme Court's 'broad constructionist' reading of the Constitution."  But Rehnquist was speaking specifically of constitutional claims at a time when expansive, policy-driven readings of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth amendments were, for better or worse, revolutionizing police and courtroom procedures...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 08, 2010 (boomark / email).