Monthly Archives: April 2010

Friends of Justice board member Mark Osler is featured in this USA Today article on the crack-powder sentencing disparity in the federal system.  Federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine, a drug created for and marketed to a poor, predominantly African-American clientele, are … Continue reading →

Last week, Arizona passed the most aggressive immigration legislation in recent history.  The law is so sweeping that staunch conservatives like Karl Rove and Tom Tancredo have come out against it.  Arizona’s new law, signed by the governor on Friday, requires … Continue reading →

On June 7, 2010, Curtis Flowers will go to trial for a sixth time on the same murder charges.  That has never happened before in the state of Mississippi. It has never happened anywhere in America. Why has it been … Continue reading →

Over at Religion Dispatches Lauri Lebo has a good piece on the “Texas Textbook Massacre”.  What lies at the root of this nasty exercise in historical revisionism?  According to Lebo, “the board is clearly rewriting history to fit a conservative agenda and a Christian … Continue reading →

Haley Barbour thinks that honoring the Confederacy while ignoring slavery “don’t mean diddly.”  The Mississippi Governor assures us that slavery was a bad thing and all that; it just isn’t worth mentioning. I just got back last night from a … Continue reading →

“God save the United States and this honorable court.”  With this traditional blessing a hearing on the case titled United States vs. Alvin Clay began at the Thomas E. Eagleton courthouse in St. Louis. Just how honorable is the court?  Time will … Continue reading →

I am sitting in a Holiday Inn in St. Louis having just re-read Shirley Baccus-Lobel’s excellent appeal brief on behalf of Alvin Clay. The Clay case has placed the federal judicial system in a pickle. Alvin Clay was convicted on … Continue reading →

A new poll by the New York Times and CBS News suggests that  Tea Party activists aren’t disaffected rednecks damaged by the current recession.  In fact, they are wealthier and better educated than most Americans.  They are more likely than most … Continue reading →

The case against Curtis Flowers stands or falls with Doyle Simpson.  The state has demonstrated that four innocent people were murdered with Doyle’s .380 automatic.  If Curtis is the killer he had to get his hands on Doyle’s gun.  In … Continue reading →