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Topside Rita and Claiborne Briefs Filed

By Paul M. Rashkind

The briefing has begun in Rita v. U.S. and Claiborne v. U.S., two pending cases in which the Court will decide if guidelines sentences are presumptively correct and if sentences below the guidelines require extraordinary circumstances. I've collected and stored the topside briefs online -- they are terrific resources for ongoing sentencing litigation as we await argument and decision later this Term. Petitioners' merits briefs are just a click away for both Rita and Claiborne. Many amicus briefs supporting the petitioners are also available for your reading enjoyment and case prep:

• Federal Public and Community Defenders/National Association of Federal Defenders (who prepared a statistical analysis of post-Booker sentencing appeals)
• FAMM - Families Against Mandatory Minimums
• NACDL -National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Law Professors and Former U.S. Attorneys
• The Sentencing Project and ACLU
• New York Council of Defense Lawyers (separate amicus briefs for Rita and Claiborne, and a statistical analysis of reasonableness cases)
• Washington Legal Foundation/Allied Educational Foundation
• Veterans organizations

Oral argument will occur on February 20, 2007.

Full post as published by U.S. Supreme Court Blog on December 19, 2006 (boomark / email).