New Hoods on the Block (originally aired May 2, 2004)
Eugene defends himself as he seeks a nomination as a Superior Court judge (1). He is asked for his views on the death penalty in Massachusetts (2) given Gov. Romney's recent efforts at its possible introduction there. Bobby Donnell appears to defend Eugene's character and to question the character of some leaders (3). Eleanor confronts Hannah at Alan's new firm over a discovery dispute. Jimmy fights to establish himself in the old neighborhood.
Judicial Selection Process (last updated April 26, 2004) (back to top)
Eugene is being nominated to serve as a Superior Court judge as part of a blind review process first announced by Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in February 2003. The process does not work quite like it does in the episode (candidates are not interviewed under false pretenses but are screened based on professional qualifications without knowledge of their name) but there is some truth to the basic idea.
"It is my aim today with this Executive Order to shine a spotlight on the way judges are appointed to the bench. The citizens of Massachusetts deserve to have a squeaky clean process that has no room for politics and favors," Romney said in a February 11, 2003 statement announcing the new process, which is reportedly the first in the nation to incorporate a blind review process.
Under the process, lawyers are invited to apply for judicial vacancies, which are posted on-line in advance. Lawyers must have 10 years of experience to apply for a trial court position such as with the Superior Court and 13 years of experience to apply for an appellate court position.
Candidates are evaluated by the 24 members of a judicial nominating commission exclusively on the basis of professional qualifications without any consideration of their names. Candidates are also prohibited from making political contributions to the Governor and Lieutenant Governor while going through the review process and are forbidden from "campaigning" via phone calls or emails.
The process allows for a final check by state and regional bar organizations, which review the names of the final prospective nominees to determine whether candidates are highly qualified, qualified, or not qualified before the Governor makes a final decision on any nomination. Romney's predecessors reportedly limited the role played by such organizations.
Massachusetts is one of about 17 states that, as of a federal survey done in 1998, selected trial-court judges of general-jurisdiction by gubernatorial appointment, with or without the aid of judicial nominating commissions (shown below in yellow). About nine states select such judges via partisan elections (purple), and about 21 states do so through nonpartisan elections (green). A few states select such judges via their legislatures (reddish).
Sources: Information on the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission, including the executive order that Jamie said she has read, is on-line here. Information on state selection methods is from a Bureau of Justice Statistics report, State Court Organization, 1998 (June 2000), on-line here.
Death Penalty (last updated May 4, 2004) (back to top)
Massachusetts is currently one of 12 states that do not have the death penalty. However, Governor Mitt Romney has said that he would propose a death penalty law that was based on a commission report released on May 3, 2004 and that would have more safeguards than other states' laws do.
The commission was created by Romney in September 2003 and was tasked with developing recommendations for a death penalty statute that would rely on scientific evidence so that no innocent person would ever be executed and that would limit the death penalty's applicability to the "worst of the worse" murders. Along those lines, the commission's recommendations include:
- Limiting the death penalty's applicability to certain kinds of murders, such as those committed as political terrorism or to obstruct justice (such as by killing a witness). Murders committed in the course of a robbery or a rape would not necessarily be subject to the death penalty.
- Not allowing the death penalty unless a jury has found that there is "conclusive scientific evidence" of the defendant's guilt and has been told about the problems with "human evidence" such as eyewitness testimony, and unless a jury has "no doubt" about the defendant's guilt of committing capital murder.
"We have recommended so many different safeguards and so many overlapping layers of review that, as a practical matter, these recommendations can achieve a completely accurate and fair death penalty system for Massachusetts," Professor Joseph Hoffmann, co-chairman of the commission, said in a May 3 statement announcing the recommendations.
In the same statement, Romney called the recommendations "the gold standard for the death penalty in the modern scientific age" and a "model not only for Massachusetts, but for the nation."
The map below shows which states do not have the death penalty (white), which states do (either shade of red), and which states had more than 100 prisoners sentenced to death as of December 31, 1999 (darkest red). Alaska and Hawaii are not pictured but neither has the death penalty.
Of those states that have the death penalty, 18 states banned the imposition of the death penalty on defendants who are mentally retarded (Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington). The federal government has such a ban in place as well. On June 20, 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision (Adkins v. Virginia) that a national consensus had formed that the execution of the mentally retarded was cruel and unusual, and banned such executions in every state; only two states had banned such executions when the Supreme Court last considered the issue in 1989. However, the Supreme Court did acknowledge that there was still disagreement as to which offenders are in fact retarded, and left that definition to individual states.
Sources: The May 3, 2004 press release by Gov. Mitt Romney's office is on-line here. The September 23, 2003 press release by Gov. Mitt Romney's office is on-line here. The Bureau of Justice Statistics, on-line here, has many resources available, including Capital Punishment 1999 bulletin, on-line here. Information on those states banning the imposition of the death penalty on mentally retarded defendants was taken from the Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment's April 15, 2002 report, which is available on-line here.
Bobby's Examples of Character (last updated May 3, 2004) (back to top)
Bobby returns and speaks on Eugene's behalf, dismissing criticism of Eugene's "character" as unfounded and inappropriate given current events. Here is what he discusses:
- "A President lying to us about weapons so he could start a war" - During the buildup to war, President George W. Bush cited Iraq's efforts at developing weapons for mass destruction as the main reason for military action. Weapons inspectors have not found evidence of such weapons. Bush in February 2004 appointed a commission that will investigate the pre-war state of U.S. intelligence and why post-war weapons inspections have failed thus far to find evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction at the time of last year's U.S. invasion. However, the commission is not tasked with investigating how the Bush administration may have misused or misinterpreted the intelligence data presented and it is not required to report its findings until after the November presidential election. The Executive Order creating the commission is on-line here and Bush's announcement is on-line here.
- "The President before that lied under oath about sex he was having in the Oval Office" - President Bill Clinton was held in contempt of court in April 1999 for intentionally giving false testimony during his deposition in Paula Jones' sexual-harassment lawsuit. "There simply is no escaping the fact that the President deliberately … undermined the integrity of the judicial system. Sanctions must be imposed, not only to redress the President's misconduct, but to deter others who might themselves consider emulating the President of the United States," Federal District Judge Susan Webber Wright wrote. Clinton was then fined $90,000. Shortly before leaving office, Clinton admitted giving "evasive and misleading" answers in the deposition and agreed to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas bar license.
- "A Supreme Court justice going duck hunting with the vice president while presiding over a case involving the vice president" - United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1986, declined on March 18, 2004 to recluse himself from a case involving Vice-President Dick Cheney, despite a duck hunting trip he took with Cheney, saying that the case was a "run-of-the-mill legal dispute about an administrative decision" and that its result would have "no bearing upon the reputation and integrity of Richard Cheney." Scalia's recusal memorandum is available on-line here.
The case involves an effort by Judicial Watch and environmental groups to get information about meetings held by an energy task force that issued a public report in May 2001 (on-line here) that became President George W. Bush's national energy policy. Some have criticized the secret manner in which the task force did its work, accusing the task force of giving energy industry executives and lobbyists improper influence over energy policies and legislation. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case on April 27. The D.C. Circuit opinion that will be reviewed by the Supreme Court (including Scalia) is available as a PDF file here.
- "Our biggest pop star is an alleged pedophile" - Pop star Michael Jackson pled not guilty on April 30, 2004 to charges of child molestation, child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion, as well as conspiracy to commit such crimes. The new charges supersede the charges filed in December 2003 of lewd or lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 and administering an intoxicating agent.
- "Some of our athletes are up on murder and rape charges" - For example, Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant was charged in July 2003 with sexual assault with physical force or violence. Former New Jersey Nets basketball player Jayson Williams was charged with manslaughter for the Feb. 2002 shooting death of a limousine driver at his home; he was acquitted on the manslaughter charges in April 2004 but was convicted of lesser charges including tampering with evidence and fabricating physical evidence.
- "The author of the Book of Virtues gambles millions of dollars in Vegas" - William Bennett, who served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, admitted in early 2003 to high-stakes gambling and said he would stop doing so. Newsweek and Washington Monthly reported the gambling in early 2003, pointing out the apparent inconsistency between Bennett's gambling and his speaking out as a moral authority on many charges. Washington Monthly's report on Bennett is available on-line here.
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West Wing: Santos discusses a lawsuit about intelligent design
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SNL: The Miers nomination
South Park: Inspired by Katrina
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Daily Show: A 2004 study found that 21 percent of young people regularly get their campaign news from comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live. So, some footnotes.
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By Stephen Lee
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