Tuesday, July 01, 2014

U.S. v. Bonds (9th Cir. - July 1, 2014)

No one can bat a thousand, right?  Not even a major leaguer.

Surely that's true for even Barry Bonds.  Yeah, he won in the Ninth Circuit four years ago, in a split opinion that made his prosecution for making false statements to a grand jury extraordinarily difficult.

But even the best hitters get out two times out of three.  So it should perhaps come as to surprise that his conviction for obstruction of justice was affirmed by the Ninth Circuit last year.

Game over, presumably.

Except you forgot.  MLB has instant replay.  The Ninth Circuit has en banc review.

And even though last year's opinion (1) was unanimous, and (2) involved three Ninth Circuit judges (not anyone sitting by designation), today, the Ninth Circuit takes the case en banc.

That Barry Bonds.  Amazing.  On so many different levels.