"I am amazed that our en banc court would have the audacity to turn around and reach the same result the Supreme Court just vacated," 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Harold DeMoss Jr.
One reason that the Supreme Court rulings of the last few years might not appear to be quite as conservative as some observors would expect is that one could quite reasonably argue that some of the federal Circuit Courts have moved notably to the right of the Supremes in several key areas of the law - and that in some cases they have shown little deference to Supreme Court rulings - which has led to the Supremes swatting down what it sees as their excesses. The courts that are probably best known for this behavior are the 4th and 5th Circuits. The 5th has in fact become known for a positively egregious level of judicial actvisim (if one minds that sort of thing) in areas of criminal law and sentencing. This report gives some examples. And keep in mind that no fewer than 4 members of the 5th Circuit are considered leading candidates to replace Justice O'Connor - Judges Emilio Garza, Edith Brown Clement, Priscilla Owen and Edith Hollan Jones (aka "the horsewoman of the right-wing apocalypse).
Posted by armand at July 6, 2005 11:45 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the Courts