Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Once more re Bill Pryor
The Supreme Court today issued its unanimous decision in Jinks v. Richland County, upholding the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 1367(d) and holding that the statute does apply to municipalities as well as to other types of defendants. An obscure little case, with a unanimous decision by Justice Scalia reaffirming (among other things) the age-old rule that municipalities have no "State Sovereignty" right to be exempted from federal laws. Hardly worth a mention, except for one thing: that, showing once again how far outside the mainstream he is in his aggressive "state's rights" activism, Attorney General Bill Pryor spearheaded an amicus brief arguing doggedly in favor of the losing side. (It's available on LEXIS, but not available on the free internet so far as I can tell). Pryor used the resources and clout of the State of Alabama, in a case to which neither the State nor any Alabama municipality was a party, to work towards the radical goal of exempting municipalities from the obligations of federal law. Fortunately, today's decision gives comfort that none of our current Supreme Court Justices is as far out as that.
[earlier posts re nomination of Pryor to 11th Cir. here]
posted by sam 11:27 AM 
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(The Return of) Ignatz, by Sam Heldman