U.S. Attorney Candidates Advance

The Federal Nominating Commission for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which I chair, has forwarded four names to Senators Kohl and Feingold for further consideration as the next United States Attorney.  The four candidates include three current federal prosecutors, Richard Frohling, Mel Johnson, and James Santelle, as well as Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Maxine White, who is a former federal prosecutor.  The Commission is required to supply a list of four to six qualified candidates to the Senators, and does not rank the candidates on that list.

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Seventh Circuit Week in Review: Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection and Improper Closing Arguments

The Seventh Circuit had three new opinions in criminal cases last week.  The most interesting was United States v. McMath (No. 08-2316), which featured the Seventh Circuit’s most extended discussion to date of Snyder v. Louisana, 128 S. Ct. 1203 (2008).  In my view, the Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder represented a real break-through in the Court’s on-again/off-again efforts to eliminate racial bias from the jury-selection process.  In McMath (which was, coincidentally, decided on the exact one-year anniversary of Snyder), the Seventh Circuit seemed to recognize the significance of Snyder and awarded the defendant a remand for further consideration of the racial bias issue in the district court.  McMath also included an interesting discussion of questionable closing arguments made by the prosecutor.

McMath’s jury-selection claim centered on alleged racial bias in the prosecutor’s use of peremptory strikes.  In Batson v. Kentucky, of course, the Supreme Court made clear that prosecutors are prohibited from removing potential jurors from a case on account of their race.  Here are the relevant facts from McMath:

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Obama Extends Protected Status for Liberians for Twelve More Months

The AP reports that President Obama has issued an executive order extended protection (“deferred enforced departure”) for twelve more months.  Advocates for the extension are pleased.  As I wrote previously, I also support this extension, but for the reasons explained in that longer post, I hope that during this twelve months, some legislative solution can be found, permitting the Liberians who have been here so long and established lives here, to stay.

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