Obama DOJ Against Defendant’s Using DNA in Criminal Case

The president who was once a champion of defendant’s right to DNA evidence as a senator in Illinois has now let his Justice Department oppose that right at the Supreme Court. What happened?

This week at the Supreme Court, the Obama administration took a position that both surprised and dismayed the president’s supporters in the criminal-justice and civil-rights communities. The Department of Justice’s action was “pretty disappointing,” says David C. Fathi of the civil-rights organization Human Rights Watch. “It isn’t consistent with Obama’s history of fighting for more access to DNA testing.”