The top story of the week was really several stories -- the News and Observer's three-piece series on Tracey Cline, the District Attorney in Durham County. As a Durham voter, a News and Observer subscriber, and someone who works closely with prosecutors, I'm going to refrain from editorializing about the series. You can read the series, plus a News and Observer story about Cline's reaction, here. At Cline's request, the newspaper posted a series of email exchanges between her and several News and Observer personnel; that exchange is available here. In other news: 1. The D.C. Circuit just issued an interesting opinion about the public's right to know about law enforcement's use of cell phone tracking. As summarized by the WSJ Law Blog, the court "ruled in favor of . . . the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a request in 2007 seeking the policies and procedures used by the Justice Department in obtaining cell phone data" used to track suspects. It is my understanding that a number of ACLU chapters across the country, including in North Carolina, are seeking similar information at the state and local level, so this story is of more than academic significance. 2. The first merits hearing under the Racial Justice Act was scheduled to kick off this week, but it has been delayed. According to this Fayetteville Observer article, the state asked for additional time for its statistician to evaluate the principal study upon which the defense is relying. The hearing is now set [...]
Faculty Coordinators
