I'm with Fein on this one, this is obviously a breach of the constitution. I would have to predict, though, that there's little chance that this gets enforced. Is the prison really going to let those guys go? That certainly wouldn't hold up to a legal challenge and there's no way Bush is going to support the congress' language and call off the federali's. Separation of powers may still work on this one.

There is an issue here that seems more important. Which members of congress are unfamiliar with the constitution? If anyone can track down the vote count for this, I'd love to see it.

I'm not in a position to debate the Constitutionality of the motion passed by the legislature, but I will say that I am quite certain that if this were a sexier issue, i.e., that the wrongfully imprisoned men were not two law enforcement officers; we would be seeing much more attention, and the procedures discussed by the author would be pushed aside in the call for corrective justice now. Because the victims here are two cops who were railroaded by an overzealous US District Attorney, they are supposed to wait for the long, drawn out appeals process. Essentially, two men who shot and wounded a fleeing felon who AGAIN transported a large amount of drugs into our country after the initial incident are afforded the same exposure as Mumia Abu-Jamal, who killed a Philadelphia police officer.

Here a link to track bills and the corresponding votes.

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I plan to write my congressman (Mike Ross, Ark.) to express my displeasure with his vote for this measure.