Legal Commentary

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case on the Good-Faith Exception For Changing Law

By Orin Kerr

As regular readers know, I have a forthcoming article that explains why I think the Supreme Court should reject the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule for reliance on overturned precedent: Good Faith, New Law, and the Scope of the Exclusionary Rule, 99 Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming 2011). Readers will also recall that I?ve been expecting the Supreme Court to grant cert on a case raising this issue sometime this fall: Specifically, I recently suggested that the Court probably would grant cert on the pending petition in Davis v. United States to avoid the recusal problems raised by DOJ?s petition for certiorari in United States v. Gonzalez.

Anyway, the Court scheduled consideration of Davis for last Friday?s conference, and this morning?s order list announces that the Supreme Court has indeed granted cert in Davis. So this issue will be on the Court?s docket for the Term after all; argument will be some time in the early spring, with a decision expected by June. This should be a very important case on the exclusionary rule, so stay tuned.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on November 01, 2010 (boomark / email).