News Roundup

This week the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the United States Supreme Court.  Jackson currently sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and her prior experience, following graduation from Harvard Law School where she was an editor of the law review, includes serving as vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission and working as a federal public defender.  Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court if she is confirmed. Death Penalty Opinion.  Speaking of the U.S. Supreme Court, yesterday the Court decided in Ramirez v. Collier that a Texas man on death row likely would prevail in a suit against the state alleging that its prohibition on having his pastor “lay hands” on him and “pray over” him during his execution violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 and the First Amendment.  SCOTUS Blog has a summary of the Court’s ruling here.  Justice Thomas, who has been hospitalized this week with an infection, dissented from the Court’s opinion. Federal Inmates to Move from Mecklenburg Jail.  The Charlotte Observer reports that the federal government is planning to move inmates that it houses at the Mecklenburg County jail to a facility in Georgia as the jail has struggled with staffing issues in recent months.  The Observer report says that the Sheriff’s Office requested the transfer and that federal officials [...]