The Law: 2 Assholes: 0

Good news from the court system this week. First, a military appeals court found "no reversible errors in the decision of the lower court" in the convictions of two perpetrators of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.  Then, yet another terrorist was brought to justice in civilian court.  Two points for the good guys.

The courts can handle these cases--they've been doing so for many years.  That some people can't bring themselves to trust the court system they live under doesn't mean the United States shouldn't default to civilian trials for these thugs.

They Don't Need Your Name

The California Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday that allows warrants to be issued for suspects identified by their DNA profile if a name is unavailable.  I'm not a lawyer, but this strikes me as a step in the right direction.  The federal courts already approved the idea of a DNA database, and this ruling will help prosecute crimes that would otherwise go unpunished because of statutes of limitations.

It will be interesting to see whether or not this ruling is cited as precedent for future cases.  The decision upheld the conviction of a man whose DNA was mistakenly entered into a DNA database, which then revealed him as the offender in another crime.  In addition, it was California's state constitution that allowed made this ruling viable; in the Golden State, prosecution begins when a warrant is issued.