Sunday, March 22, 2009

This week in military justice -- Denedo oral argument edition

This week at the Supremes: The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in United States v. Denedo, No. 08-267, at 1000 Wednesday. SCOTUSblog provides this link to a listing of counsel for March oral arguments. Assistant to the Solicitor General Pratik A. Shah will argue for the United States and Matthew S. Freedus will argue for Denedo. I'll be there. I hope to post some thoughts about the argument Wednesday evening.

This week at CAAF: CAAF's web site is down, but my recollection is that it has no arguments scheduled for this week.

This week at the CCAs: ACCA will hear oral argument on Friday in United States v. Clagett, No. ARMY 20070082. The assignment of error being argued is: "APPELLANT WAS DENIED HIS SIXTH AMENDMENT RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL WHERE THE DEFENSE COUNSEL AND THE CIVILIAN DEFENSE COUNSEL WERE PREJUDICIALLY DEFICIENT IN THE PRETRIAL INVESTIGATION AND SUBSEQUENT ADVISING OF APPELLANT ON EVIDENCE THAT WAS AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT HIS CASE WHICH RESULTED IN THEIR DESIRE TO HAVE APPELLANT ENTER A PLEA OF GUILTY. IN ADDITION THE DEFENSE COUNSEL AND CIVILIAN DEFENSE COUNSEL WERE INEFFECTIVE IN THE PRESENTATION OF THE SENTENCING CASE."

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is Pratik Shah an "A" team advocate, or has the SG, Elena Kagen (known for her anti-military stands at Harvard Law School), assigned a second-stringer to the government's case?

Dwight Sullivan said...

Anon 1848 -- the SG's office doesn't have non-A team advocates. He's a former Breyer clerk and a former appellate advocate at Wilmer Hale. He argued for the U.S. as amicus curiae in Hedgpeth v. Pulido, 129 S. Ct. 530 (2008).

Dwight Sullivan said...

p.s. -- I should add that the very notion that Solicitor General Kagan might try to undercut the United States' position in Denedo is absurd.

Anonymous said...

The Denedo case started under the prior SG, all but the reply was written under the former SG. If the current SG really wanted to tank the case she'd withdraw it or waive argument.

Anonymous said...

Just saying ... he's a rookie compared to old hands like Ed Kneedler and Mike Dreeben.

Anonymous said...

If a rookie's not allowed in because he has no experience, how can a rookie ever gain...oh, never mind.

Anonymous said...

"p.s. -- I should add that the very notion that Solicitor General Kagan might try to undercut the United States' position in Denedo is absurd."

Sure, because no appointed official ever tanked a case. The fact that she hates the military will have nothing to do with her decisions or actions, ever.

Anonymous said...

She hates the military? Really? You say this based on what? The fact that she opposed on-campus recruiting? Not sure there's a direct correlation there.