Tomorrow's a holiday, and the blog is going on vacation next week, so this will be the last post of 2010. Before rounding up the news, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who reads, subscribes to, posts comments on, suggests topics for, or contributes in any other way to this blog. It continues to be fun for me, and I hope it is useful for you. My colleagues and I will be back with daily posts beginning Monday, January 3, 2011. Until then, chew on these interesting news items: 1. The lame duck Congress got quite a few things done. I've noted previously the confirmations of Judge Ripley Rand as the United States Attorney in the Middle District of North Carolina and Judge Catherine Eagles as a district court judge there, but can now add to that list Judge Al Diaz, recently confirmed to sit on the Fourth Circuit. Congratulations to Judge Diaz. 2. Also preparing to assume a seat on an appellate court is Judge Doug McCullough, returning to the North Carolina Court of Appeals after a narrow victory over Cressie Thigpen in an "instant runoff." 3. The Death Penalty Information Center's year-end report is now available. The DPIC is opposed to the death penalty, so the report is not written from a "neutral" perspective, but it does contain interesting data, including the facts that in 2010, 114 death sentences were returned nationwide and 46 executions took place. Both are in line with last year but very [...]
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