United States v. Loughner

Viewed realistically, what the majority holds is that the district court correctly abdicated to Loughner’s prison physicians the responsibility to determine whether he is to be restored to trial competency through involuntary medication. The form of the majority opinion obscures that holding, as it addresses first the quite separate question of the standards and procedures applicable to the mid-commitment decision to medicate a pretrial detainee for reasons of dangerousness. But that is not where we are now in this case. Instead, we are, principally, reviewing the district court’s decision as…