The Supreme Court Monday afternoon could begin to put to right one of the most obvious trial-court mistakes of the last decade. The Justices hear argument from Jeffrey Skilling's lawyers, who doggedly claim their client, the broadly despised former Enron chief, was unfairly tried in federal court in Houston, the very heart of the scene of an enormous financial crime that directly affected tens of thousands of local residents.

This time, alas, the bad guys are right. Skilling (and his boss, Kenneth Lay,) never should have been tried in that city at that time. Never mind the case's earnest "honest services" dispute, if the federal rules governing venue changes are ever to have anymore meaning -- if a high-profile client ever is going to get the benefit of his or her constitutional right to an "impartial" jury -- the Supreme Court is going to have to grant Skilling a new trial. It would be a decision as unpopular as it would be legally justified. 

Four years ago, before Skilling and lay were tried and convicted, I wrote about this very topic. The headline of the 2006 column was "Time to Move Enron Trial" and, reading through it now, it's easy to see why.

The Atlantic Monthly