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Terrific analysis of Justices' wacka ACCA work

By Douglas A. Berman

Writing over at CO, Anita Krishnakumar has this fantastic new post, titled "Dejá-Vu in Begay v. United States," examining the struggles that the Supreme Court has been having with application of the Armed Career Criminal Act.  Here is the "upshot" of her analysis:Justices Alito, Souter, and Thomas have proved the most committed to the statutory text in the context of this criminal sentencing enhancement, even when the resulting outcome is not-so-palatable to them.  (Their Begay dissent openly expresses sympathy for the result produced by the majority, but laments the majority's construction as irreconcileable with the text).  Justice Scalia has proved consistent, across cases, in applying the rather atextual, but Rule-of-Lenity-inspired, construction which he concocted to limit the reach of an ambiguous criminal statute...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 05, 2008 (boomark / email).