Justice Souter, Juror No. 6 and Taxes
So, I’m out of the office for a few days and all hell breaks loose in the federal blogosphere. First, Justice Souter announces his retirement from the Supreme Court (don’t you wonder why many Supreme Court Justices die in office). I mean, seriously, at some point doesn’t someone reach retirement age. Seems to me a distinct lack of dignity to just hang on. I believe that Justice Leah Sears on the Georgia Supreme Court will be a serious candidate for the position.
Then, the Letter of Apology blog had an excellent piece over the weekend regarding the use of uncharged and acquitted conduct to enhance a defendant’s sentence. Interestingly, that post originated from a Washington Times article (interesting because it is the more conservative of the two D.C. newspapers) regarding Juror No. 6 from a drug trial in the district several years ago, where the trial lasted 10 months. On finding out that one of the defendants, who was largely exonerated by the jury's verdict, was going to get 16 years based on either uncharged, or acquitted conduct, the juror wrote a thoughtful letter to the sentencing court. It is worth a read.
And, finally, today, the administration announces according to the Washington Post, that it is going to crack down, not only on individual tax fraud by parking monies in secret overseas accounts, but also on the corporate parking of profits in overseas companies for the purpose of limiting tax exposure.
