2004-01-10

2004-01-10 01:15 am

secret prosecutions

They're not only for alleged terrorism (Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel's case).

Reporters1 Committee for Freedom of the Press amicus brief (PDF file):
In recent months, it has become evident that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida maintains a dual, separate docket of public and non-public cases. [...]
In Ochoa's case, the existence of secret proceedings emerges from clues in the publicly available information and from documents that were later unsealed after being kept secret for months or years.
[...]
Ochoa’s own case has been litigated largely in secret, despite his objections.
[...]
As Ochoa's brief describes, many of these docket entries were sealed in violation of accepted First Amendment standards and Local Rule 5.4 of the Rules of the Southern District. According to Ochoa, no temporal limitations were placed on the sealings, no public explanation for secrecy was given, and no less restrictive alternatives, such as redaction, were explored.


1 who suppressed their apostrophe?
2004-01-10 02:47 pm

fun fungal fact

While telial galls produced on cedar are unsightly and cause die-back of small branches, there usually is little concern about the presence of the rust [Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae] on this host. Infections of junipers can, however, be spectacular on rainy spring days because of all the bright orange hydrated telial horns. In some cases the heavy weight of these water-saturated structures may break branches of the host tree.
Alexopoulos, Mims, and Blackwell, Introductory Mycology, p. 630.