Patterico's Pontifications

12/6/2008

L.A. Times Can’t Be Bothered to Tell You Who Appointed the Three Judges Who Are Planning to Release Thousands of Prisoners Into Society

Filed under: Crime,Dog Trainer,General,Judiciary — Patterico @ 9:18 pm



The L.A. Times has a story titled Federal judges weighing solutions to California’s prison overcrowding crisis. The story approaches the issue based on the assumption that the state has behaved irrationally, which requires Three Wise Men in Robes to step forward and assume the mantle of responsibility:

Although the trial is only halfway over, the judges are speaking and acting as if they have already decided to take action against the state. Now they seem only to be searching for answers on precisely what action to take and have openly contemplated a groundbreaking order to release prisoners and impose a cap on the state prison population.

“The question from our point of view is developing an effective set of orders that will protect society . . . and ensure there is a constitutionally sufficient level of care,” explained U.S. District Justice Lawrence Karlton, who said later that the trial wouldn’t be needed “if the state were to wake up and start behaving in a rational way.”

But what if the judges themselves are the unreasonable ones?

The problem is that the story doesn’t give readers any facts that give the reader perspective on where these judges are coming from, philosophically.

For example, you’d never know by reading the article that all three judges were appointed by President Jimmy Carter.

Or that Lawrence Karlton is the same judge who ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional — a decision that legal experts across the land derided as absurd. Or that Thelton Henderson is the judge who blocked Proposition 209, California’s anti-affirmative action proposition — a decision that was later reversed by the Ninth Circuit in a unanimous ruling. Or that Stephen Reinhardt is so pro-defense that (like Rose Bird) he has never met a death penalty case where he didn’t reverse the death verdict — in over 25 years as a federal judge.

You don’t need to know these things. In fact, you need to be protected from these inconvenient facts.

Luckily, the editors are there to protect you.

12 Responses to “L.A. Times Can’t Be Bothered to Tell You Who Appointed the Three Judges Who Are Planning to Release Thousands of Prisoners Into Society”

  1. I knew Reinhardt was an anti-death-penalty activist in black robes, but I never knew he had a perfect Rose Bird record.

    I only wish we could do to Reinhardt what the voters of California did to Bird. Luckily we have the Supreme Court to, as George Will put it, tidy up after Reinhardt.

    Alan (551a6d)

  2. My relatives ask why I refuse to subscribe this freakin’ Pravda.

    They are PROPAGANDA!

    Patricia (ee5c9d)

  3. By the way, Patterico, is there any East Coast counterpart to you, who documents the New York Times‘s omissions, distortions, and fabrications in the way you do to the Los Angeles Times? I’ve been following your criticisms of the L.A. Times for a while, and you’ve been a truth squad for that paper. Something that I’d like to see someone do for that paper’s counterpart in my own state.

    Fun fact (for me, anyway, and hopefully others): in a 1985 interview with the N.Y. Times, William Rehnquist called the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post house organs for the ACLU.

    Alan (551a6d)

  4. What would be really nice would be a group of bloggers doing in each major city what Patterico does in L.A. and the Power Line guys do in Minneapolis. I’ve often wanted to critique the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a McClatchy ppaer, but my wife’s employment there made such an endeavor unwise. Now that she’s been laid off, the idea is more realistic, but finding the time isn’t — honestly, Mr. Frey, I don’t know how you do it.

    Back to the point: I imagine a confederation of independent bloggers linked up through one common site, each documenting the inaccuracies and omissions of the local paper. I wonder if that, or the demise of the industry, will come first.

    Diffus (f2d631)

  5. If the public knew who appointed these wacky judges, then the public might think Presidential elections matter. Can’t have that.

    Perfect Sense (9d1b08)

  6. How do folks like these get assigned to cases like these? Isn’t there supposed to be a lottery or something? Releasing thousands of repeat felons on society is, well, I find it difficult to say what I think and remain within the law.

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493)

  7. Luckily there is such thing as en banc, not to mention the US Supreme Court. For now.

    I actually hope the ruling is truly outrageous, and is made a rallying cry for blocking ANY similarly-minded appellate judge.

    BTW, how did Thelton Henderson get on an appellate panel? Isn’t he a district court judge? Matter of fact, isn’t he the district judge who has been behind this crap from the beginning? Is he sitting on his own case’s appeal?

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493)

  8. Will no one rid us of these turbulent judges?

    Curtis (e21caf)

  9. If California would only deport all the illegal aliens in its prisons and if the USA could only keep them out, there would be plenty of room for our home grown criminals.

    Dandapani (7aefb0)

  10. the times doesn’t report that part of the story because they don’t see anything wrong with what’s going on.

    redc1c4 (27fd3e)

  11. For example, you’d never know by reading the article that all three judges were appointed by President Jimmy Carter.

    A foolish liberal in the White House from over 28 years ago is like a gift that keeps on giving.

    Now that another nitwit of the left will be taking his place beginning in January, I shudder to think what other acts of stupidity will be coming out of the judiciary in 2026.

    Mark (411533)

  12. Each criminal released should be provided with a list of the names/addresses of the rich and famous lawyers/judges. Tell them they get just as much or more time for robbing a poor man of $5 as they do for robbing the rich of thousands.

    Scrapiron (dda662)


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