Not a good day for the U.S. Attorney's office down here in San Diego. Which gets called out by Chief Judge Kozinski for (1) doing a bad job, and then (2) trying to get out the consequences of this (alleged) malfeasance by convincing -- successfully, I might add -- three district court judges down here (Judges Burns, Benitez, and Collins) to refuse to accept the unconditional guilty pleas of various criminal defendants.
No dice, he holds. And grants a writ of mandamus. In his inimitable fashion; e.g., the second sentence of the opinion is: "These consolidated cases show again why the ten most terrifying words in the English language may be, 'I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.'"
Chief Judge Kozinski: A funny guy. But, simultaneously, not at all shy about sticking it to you when he thinks you deserve it.
