Law and order

Still drizzling, as it has for almost a week. We got a two-week break in early March but since about the 17th it's been positively Portland-like around here.

This morning Cris wanted to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear arguments in a death penalty appeal, and I went along. The case turned out to be quite a soap opera -- one of the judges on the appeals bench suggested it was a case fit for "Law and Order," and another called it "bizarre." The defendant was heavily brain-damaged, his public defender slept with the prosecutor, and the judge later confessed to being a marijuana "addict." I was so curious I did a little searching on the web and came up with this entertaining story on the judge's woes.

Even without all that interest, the trip would have been a treat. The Federal Courthouse in San Francisco is a Beaux Arts beauty which was completely restored after the 1989 earthquake. Inside it's all marble, brass, wood, with stained-glass skylights -- absolutely gorgeous.