Judicial Conference of the United States Opposes Bill Cutting Death Penalty Appeals

The Judicial Conference of the United States, the pol­i­cy mak­ing body of the nation’s fed­er­al judges, wrote a strong let­ter to mem­bers of the Senate Judiciary Committee oppos­ing parts of the Streamlined Procedures Act (S.1088) that would cur­tail death penal­ty appeals. The bill is sched­uled to be marked up by the Committee on Thursday, September 29. The judges said the bill could ​“cre­ate unrea­son­able obsta­cles to res­o­lu­tion” of death penal­ty cas­es, and that it could ​“under­mine the tra­di­tion­al role of the fed­er­al courts to hear and decide the mer­its of claims aris­ing under the Constitution.” The bill has also been opposed by the American Bar Association, the Conference of (State) Chief Justices, and many for­mer pros­e­cu­tors. (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 28, 2005). See New Voices. See also The Constitution Project for more infor­ma­tion on S.1088.