More Congressional Buffoonery

Remember the "Zone of Death" I blogged about last month? The author of those law review articles, Brian Kalt, has an update of sorts, as reported over at Volokh. It involves the federal courthouse in Texarkana, which actually straddles the state (and Circuit) line between Texas and Arkansas: some of the courtrooms are in Eastern District of Texas and the Fifth Circuit, while others are in the Western District of Arkansas and the Eighth Circuit.

Unlike the Zone of Death issue, when Congress was alerted of the potential problems, it acted. But it might as well have done nothing. Read the whole post at Volokh for the details, but as Kalt concludes:

In other words, there was a scheduling problem with criminal trials at the federal courthouse in Texarkana. A solution worked its way through the labyrinthine legislative process; Congress found out about the problem and took decisive action. The solution didn't actually affect the problem at all, but hey, at least it was decisive.

Your tax dollars at work!