Saturday, March 21, 2009

Trial Update: Hearing Moved to Monday - LIVEBLOG! - Amicus Brief

The Kyle Boyer trial has been moved to Monday at 9:30pm in Marvin Center 401.

There will be a liveblog here on GWBlogSpot covering every nuance of the hearing and maybe even a live video stream. How exciting!

Also, if you're closely following the trial, you shouldn't miss the very interesting Amicus Brief filed by law students Michael Williams and Stephen Glatter over concern that the court is not properly applying US jurisprudence when it hears cases.

From the brief:
Amici curiae are a group of law students from The George Washington University Law School. Amici curiae are interested in this case because of their general interest in the field of law and their commitment to the fair administration of justice. In particular, amici curiae are concerned with the relatively inadequate legal reasoning advanced by many of the parties in the present case, including this Court. Therefore, amici curiae offer their limited expertise in the hopes that it will help clarify some of the important legal issues for this Court’s consideration.

Amici curiae offer two alternative interpretations of this Court’s standard of review, based upon the two traditional interpretations of the “arbitrary and capricious” and “abuse of discretion” standards in American courts. Amici curiae do not go so far as to say which standard this Court should adopt in this particular case. Nevertheless, this Court should not avoid adopting a clear standard of review—when such clear standards are readily available in U.S. jurisprudence—merely by sticking its head in the sand and declaring itself unwilling to listen to “legalese.” (Writ of Cert. at 1.)
Things are getting exciting. Stay tuned to GWBlogSpot for more news and frequent updates.

UPDATE: Another wonderfully written and well argued amicus brief from immediate past chair and immediate past vice chair of the JEC, Benjamin Balter and William Rone, in response to a not-so-well-written, not-so-well-argued amicus brief filed several days ago by former Student Court Chief Judge Ryan Sullivan. You'll notice that Balter and Rone go with straightforward logic in their response to Sullivan, and ditch the "legalese" the concerned law students ask for in their brief.

Also, see the court's response to the concerned law students' brief, if you really want to.

All trial-related documents can be read and downloaded here.

UPDATE 2: A very well written and well reasoned amicus brief just posted. Filed by former JEC investigator Jake Greenberg for Boyer.

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