Gore vs. the Supreme Court: The justices and the 'CSI effect'

By Dana Milbank
WashPost
Wednesday, October 13, 2010

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.

These are their stories -- as acted out by the justices of the Supreme Court.

Ostensibly, the robed ones of the High Court were hearing a habeas corpus case Tuesday morning, exploring the finer points of the right to effective counsel. In practice, they cared more about corpus than habeas; the oral argument could have served as a pilot for "Law & Order: SCOTUS Unit."

"If someone were moved from the bed, taken to the living room couch, you would have expected to see a trail of blood from the bed, and there wasn't that," said Justice Ruth Ginsburg.

(More here.)