yes indeed, clarence thomas, the most taciturn member of the justices, has spoken. and quite a mouthful it was.
in a little recognized decision , the supremes ruled…..wait for it… 5 to 4…in a majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, that Mr. Bowles was [shit] out of luck, and his appeal was invalid. So much for heeding a federal judge….”
more below…
it seems mr. bowles, having been convicted in 1999 of murder for his role in a beating death, applied for, and was denied a habeas corpus application. subsequent to that denial, he moved to reopen the period he had to file an appeal, which was granted by the district court.
but…and it’s a big but…the district court, mistakenly, gave him 17 days to file instead of the normal 14 days. operating under the guidance, and in accordance with the decision of the district court, bowles filed his appeal within the 17 days allowed, but after the ‘normal’ 14 day rule period.
what’s the problem here?
well, the NYT, pretty well summed it up yesterday with this brief but concise editorial:
Don’t Listen to What the Man Says
If the Supreme Court, with its new conservative majority, wanted to announce that it was getting out of the fairness business, it could hardly have done better than its decision last week…
[…]
…The Supreme Court has made clear in its past rulings that deadlines like this are not make-or-break. Appeals could still be heard, the court recognized in the past, if there were “unique circumstances” that accounted for the delay. Clearly, following an order from a federal judge is such a circumstance.
Courts also have the authority to create an exception to the rules in the interest of fairness. The Supreme Court has recognized that an “equitable exception” should be granted when a party has relied on an order from a federal judge. By refusing to do so now, Justice David Souter argued for the dissenters, the court was saying that “every statement by a federal court is to be tagged with the warning `Beware of the judge.’ “
The four dissenters distilled this case perfectly when they said, “it is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way.”
written decision pdf
the law and order party, and compassionate conservatism at work.
it was suggested, over the weekend by afox that 5/9 of the supremes should be impeached along with aWol, cheney, abu, et al…..
this is a pretty good example of why.
lTMF’sA
clik images for info
