Interesting that although Ohio A.G. Cordray is talking about how pesky defendants and defense lawyers are slowing down the machinery of death, others are actually digging into the problems on the government side of criminal justice.
There is all the talk of the Obama Administration’s policy on marijuana enforcement, there’s today’s decision to abandon the (mis?)prosecution of former Sen. Ted Stevens (Doug Berman has some harsh words for DOJ), and — most important — there are Sen. Jim Webb’s efforts at prison and criminal justice reform. Much has been written about all of these issues at Doug Berman’s Sentencing Law & Policy, and I encourage you to go spend the next hour over there if you can — but I also want to draw attention to Glenn Greenwald’s excellent piece from this weekend, “Jim Webb’s courage v. the ‘pragmatism’ excuse for politicians.” In part, he writes:
Any cowardly politician can take only those positions that reside safely within the majoritiarian consensus. Actual leaders, by definition, confront majoritarian views when they are misguided and seek to change them, and politicians have far more ability to affect and change public opinion than they want the public to believe they have.
Agreed. Real leaders are hard to find, but it’s good to know that Sen. Webb is one on this issue.
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Chris Geidner is the award-winning senior political editor at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, The American Prospect, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. In 2011, he received the Excellence in News Writing Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his coverage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found