you want to talk about "activist judges?"

If you saw the photos in this Sunday's Times, you now know what a "Hangin' Judge" looks like. This story is about the most blood-thirsty, single-minded court in the nation. Overworked, underqualified, and all-around unjust. Go ahead, guess which state I'm talking about.

from NYT:

Instead of considering much of the evidence recited by the Supreme Court majority, the appeals court engaged in something akin to plagiarism. In February, it again rejected Mr. Miller-El's claims, in a decision that reproduced, virtually verbatim and without attribution, several paragraphs from the sole dissenting opinion in last year's Supreme Court decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas.

'The Fifth Circuit just went out of its way to defy the Supreme Court on this,' said John J. Gibbons, a former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, who joined a brief supporting Mr. Miller-El. 'The idea that the system can tolerate open defiance by an inferior court just cannot stand.'

[ding!] time's up... if you guessed Texas, you've just won an all expense paid trip to Death Row. Don't worry, I'm sure your appeal will come through in time.

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