For The Washington Post

RUSSIA-US-DIPLOMACY-BASKET-COURT

Contributor

The Washington Post

(Michelle Kondrich/The Washington Post)

**ONE TIME USE ONLY FOR OP-LAMOTT

Sonia Sotomayor,Clarence Thomas,John Roberts,Samuel Alito,Elena Kagan,Amy Coney Barrett,Neil Gorsuch,Brett Kavanaugh,Ketanji Brown Jackson,Michael Dreeben

Children holding hands

ONE TIME USE FOR OP-CARNEY KIDS 

FEDERALISTGALA

Four Dalmatian Puppy

other

People visit the site of the Nova festival, in Reim

Fake Electors Indictment Arizona

Israel Palestinians Campus Protests

US-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-EDUCATION-CONFLICT

**ONE TIME USE ONLY FOR OP-SMITH-HIGHER-ED

Former U.S. President Trump's criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records continues in New York

POOL

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

Indy Star bars columnist from Caitlin Clark’s games after awkward exchange

The Washington Post wins three Pulitzer Prizes

Nats go over .500 the hard way by beating the O’s and Corbin Burnes

A look at what has changed since the Nationals were last above .500

Baseball can crush rookies. Why hasn’t it crushed Trey Lipscomb?

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

Russia is using toxic chemical weapons, wrecking a ban it helped create

No, posting is not better political activism than talking to voters

The legal — and political — stakes of Stormy Daniels on the stand

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

Middle East conflict live updates: Israel says it has reopened key aid crossing; U.S. paused bomb shipments to Israel

U.S. signals optimism for Gaza cease-fire as Israel moves into Rafah 

Carolyn Hax: Family pushes siblings to ‘make amends’ after their mother’s death

Miss Manners: I’m offended by a golfer’s skirt choice

Ask Amy: I want to be closer with my brother. He never reaches out to me.

Substack courts TikTokers with new ‘creators’ program

Indiana primary updates: Mike Braun wins Republican governor race

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Don’t be a jerk at the airport: A guide for headphones

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

In photos: The scene after a deadly tornado strikes Oklahoma

Fashion previews, protests, parties: The scene surrounding the Met Gala

President Biden Campains In Wisconsin

Demetrius Freeman

This week, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-crime-biden-judge-nina-morrison_n_620d3e4ae4b012513085db5a" target="_blank">lined up to pummel</a> Innocence Project attorney Nina Morrison, President Biden’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/15/president-biden-names-eleventh-round-of-judicial-nominees/" target="_blank">nominee</a> for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Morrison has helped free about 30 innocent people from prison in her career and would bring desperately needed balance to a federal judiciary loaded with ex-prosecutors.

Rather than recognize her qualifications, Republican after Republican beclowned themselves with misleading attacks and self-serving theater.

Start with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who solemnly told Morrison, “I will oppose you and anyone else the administration sends to us who do not understand the necessity of the rule of law.” Hawley’s emphasis on “the rule of law” was interesting, given that at that very moment, his campaign <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/josh-hawley-cheering-jan-6-rioter-mug-1300054/" target="_blank">was hawking trinkets</a> emblazoned with the senator’s fist-pumping efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/ted-cruz-death-penalty-thompson-connick-supreme-court/" target=_blank>once represented a man</a> who had been wrongly convicted and nearly executed, the late <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/10/04/john-thompson-an-exoneree-and-relentless-voice-for-criminal-justice-reform-has-died/" target=_blank>John Thompson</a>. It’s one of the more decent things Cruz has done. So one might think Cruz would have some admiration for Morrison. But Cruz has never let his backbone <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-55540215" target=_blank>inhibit his posturing</a>. “The whole of your record is deeply disturbing,” he scolded. “Skyrocketing crime rates … are the direct result of the policies you’ve spent your entire lifetime advancing,” claimed Cruz, about a month after he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O9dgfMTUv4" target=_blank>begged forgiveness</a> for once criticizing the lawless Capitol mob.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) berated Morrison <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/ledell-lee-what-you-should-know-about-his-case-and-execution/" target=_blank>for representing Ledell Lee</a>, an Arkansas man who was executed in 2017. Four years after the execution, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/05/04/ledell-lee-dna-execution/" target=_blank>new testing found DNA</a> on the murder weapon that belonged neither to Lee nor the victim, according to lawyers. Cotton seemed astounded that Morrison could still believe Lee might be innocent, given that Lee was convicted with eyewitness testimony. Morrison calmly pointed out that faulty eyewitness testimony is the <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/convicted-memory" target=_blank>leading cause</a> of wrongful convictions.

Unchastened, Cotton demanded to know why Morrison thought “the courts somehow overlooked” Lee’s innocence for so long. But <a href="https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/longestincarceration.aspx#:~:text=While%20the%20average%20time%20spent,crimes%20they%20did%20not%20commit." target=_blank>we’ve seen exonerations</a> of people who served 20, 30, even 40 years, some after courts reviewed their cases a dozen or more times. Worse, in Cotton’s home state, once a prisoner exhausts his appeals, the state’s judicial system offers no way for him to get back in court even if he discovers compelling new evidence of his innocence.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) criticized <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/opinion/kurtzrock-suffolk-county-prosecutor.html" target=_blank>an op-ed Morrison</a> wrote for the New York Times about prosecutor misconduct, because Morrison didn’t emphasize that such misconduct is rare. But misconduct is documented only in a small percentage of cases. That’s likely because there’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/18/why-prosecutors-get-away-with-misconduct/" target=_blank>little incentive for anyone</a> — including defense attorneys — to report it. And Morrison’s essay criticized the fact that even when prosecutorial misconduct is reported and proved, the offending prosecutors are rarely punished. That’s the surest sign of a broken system.

It isn’t as if the Utah senator isn’t aware of perverse incentives. He has long decried their effect <a href="https://www.lee.senate.gov/welfare-reform-and-upward-mobility" target=_blank>on welfare recipients</a>. He just seems oddly uncurious about how they might affect prosecutors.

Finally, Republican senators tried to make hay of the fact that Morrison has advised progressive prosecutors such as Kim Gardner in St. Louis and Larry Krasner in Philadelphia. In fact, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-09-13/don-t-blame-progressive-prosecutors-for-rising-crime-rates" target="_blank">there’s zero evidence</a> of any link between crime rates and progressive prosecutors and their policies; <a href="https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article256937947.html" target="_blank">murders</a> are also <a href="https://jjie.org/2021/12/14/in-jacksonville-floridas-gun-murder-capitol-locals-assess-the-merits-of-crime-prevention-and-punishment/" target="_blank">soaring</a> in cities with <a href="https://calmatters.org/justice/2021/12/kern-county-homicide-rate-gangs/" target="_blank">conservative</a> or <a href="https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/indianapolis-had-271-homicides-in-record-breaking-2021" target="_blank">traditional </a>prosecutors; and voters reelected both <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/politics/district-attorney-krasner-prosecutor-peruto-20211102.html" target="_blank">Krasner</a> and <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Kimberly_Gardner" target="_blank">Gardner</a> by large margins. (Incidentally, murders and shootings <a href="https://time.com/6129859/st-louis-shootings-homicides-decrease/" target="_blank">fell significantly in St. Louis last year</a>.) But even setting all that aside, the criticism is still nonsense. As Morrison pointed out, she advised those prosecutors only on conviction integrity units — the teams of attorneys who seek out and fix wrongful convictions.

If these Republicans truly cared about the rule of law, they would be heaping praise on attorneys such as Morrison. As with any other institution, we improve the criminal justice system by exposing and correcting its flaws, not by pretending those flaws don’t exist.

The policies people such as like Morrison recommend to uproot the causes of wrongful convictions — such as <a href="https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-criminal-justice-reform-brady-evidence-lc.html" target=_blank>stronger rules</a> ensuring prosecutors share all evidence with the defense, tighter controls on cognitive bias in forensics and restrictions on testimony from jailhouse informants — can also help apprehend and convict the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/cases/michael-morton/" target=_blank>real perpetrators</a> before they <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/dna-evidence-clears-two-men-in-mississippi-and-uncovers-serious-misconduct/" target=_blank>strike again</a>. When police and prosecutors can’t use quack experts and jailhouse snitches to confirm shaky theories — when they’re forced to remain open-minded to all possible suspects — they’re more likely to follow the evidence.

According to a <a href="https://www.cato.org/study/are-disproportionate-number-federal-judges-former-government-advocates#procedure-findings" target="_blank">2021 Cato Institute study</a>, former prosecutors and government attorneys outnumber former defense and civil rights attorneys on the federal bench by about seven to one. There hasn’t been anyone on the Supreme Court with significant criminal defense experience in 30 years. The Biden administration deserves praise, <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/481113-ashley-moody-claims-joe-biden-is-tone-deaf-for-appointing-defense-attorneys-to-the-bench/" target="_blank">not scorn</a>, for addressing that imbalance.

For senators such as Cruz, Cotton, Lee and Hawley, however, this is all mere sport. It really doesn’t matter that they’re wrong on the facts, or that they’ve mischaracterized Morrison’s career. For them, this is about sowing fear and anger to position themselves for the midterms and later runs for office.

But the people Morrison freed from prison have little time for politics as sport. Time is what was taken from them. Her nomination to the federal bench is validation that their suffering mattered — that should some wrongly convicted prisoner try to raise an innocence claim in the future, there would be at least one more voice on the federal bench willing to take them seriously. And it’s infuriating to watch these senators make a mockery of it all.

Western Publications Award for Best News Story, 2010

L.A. Press Club Journalist of the Year, 2011

First Place, Online Commentary or Blog, MD-DC-DE Press Association, 2014

The Innocence Project Journalism Award, 2015

NACDL Champion of Justice Award, 2016

Bastiat Prize for Journalism, 2017

Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces

The Cadaver King and the County Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South

Indiana University, BA in journalism and political science

Radley Balko reports on criminal justice, the drug war and civil liberties. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for the Huffington Post and a writer and editor for Reason magazine. His most recent book is "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South."

Radley Balko

washpost

Republicans’ buffoonish attacks on Innocence Project attorney Nina Morrison

the-washington-post

Nominee for U.S. Attorney General, Judge Merrick Garland

staff

Editorials

Columns

Guest opinions

Cartoons

Submit a guest opinion

Today's Opinions newsletter

Opinions

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/judge

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law_enforcement

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/crime

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/trial_(court)/defendant

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/financial_and_business_service

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/trial_(court)/litigation

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law_enforcement/punishment_(criminal)

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/trial_(court)

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/prosecution

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/financial_and_business_service/legal_service

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Johnson & Johnson KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bed Bath & Beyond KWs - INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: USAA KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Discover Card KWs – EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Capital One (One Tech) KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Louis Vuitton KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: Diageo - Johnnie Walker KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ Client List: Mercedes EQS KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FlexForm KW List - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Verizon KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Organon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Optum KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/P+ Halo KW List - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Synchrony Financial KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Ukraine-Russia (Apple News) KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Showtime KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Hybrid Work

client-blocklists/Client List: Apple TV+ KW – INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Ronald McDonald House KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client Neg KW List: Omega KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/PMI KWs 2021 - EXCLUDE ALL

client-blocklists/Marcus Goldman Sachs Neg KW List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Congressional Elections_legacyaux_r48

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Blockist: Capitol Building Mob

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Crime, Law & Justice_legacyaux_xvt

advertising/B2_Crime_legacyaux_0sb

client-blocklists/Client List: Citibank KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Citibank KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Fidelity Investments KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KW List 2022 - EXCLUDES ALL 

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Racing and Nascar Enthusiasts

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/National Instruments KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Intel KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T Digital Divide  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Samsung 2021 KWs - INCLUDE ANY

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

client-blocklists/Google PG Competitor KWs - EXCLUDES ALL 

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Amazon KWs - EXCLUDE ALL 

Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for opinions on the biggest questions in politics

Washington Post Opinions

The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by Jonathan Capehart.

Sign up for Democracy, Refreshed, a newsletter series on how to renovate the republic.

Opinion Columns