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Federal Judiciary

U.S. Supreme Court Blog

Quick Summaries and Commentary on Supreme Court Cases

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Last Entry: November 27, 2019 at 00:49:00

United States v. Santos - Only Profits are Proceeds Under Money Laundering Statute

Posted on June 02, 2008
Santos ran an illegal lottery, from which he paid runners a commission, salary to collectors, and winnings to bettors. He was convicted under the principal federal money laundering statute, 18 U.S.C. зз 1956(a)(1)(A)(i) and 1956(h), which makes it a crime to engage in a financial transaction using the "proceeds" of certain specified unlawful activities with the intent to promote those activities or to conceal the proceeds...

United States v. Williams - Pandering and Solicitation of Child Pornography Law Constitutional

Posted on May 19, 2008
Congress passed the 2003 "PROTECT Act" to try to shore up federal controls on child pornography after the Supreme Court struck down a 1996 federal law on the subject in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002). The new law, 18 U.S.C. з 2252A(a)(3)(B) criminalizes, in certain specified circumstances, the pandering or solicitation of child pornography...

United States v. Ressam - Explosives "in relation to " Any Crime OK

Posted on May 19, 2008
Ressam was arrested in 1997 as part of the alleged Millennium bombing planned for Los Angeles International airport. He attempted to enter the United States by car ferry at Port Angeles, Washington. Hidden in the trunk of his rental car were explosives that he intended to detonate at the Los Angeles International Airport...

United States v. Rodriguez - ACCA Predicates Computed on Enhanced Maximum Sentence

Posted on May 19, 2008
The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. з924(e)(2)(A)(ii), imposes a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence for felons-in-possession with three qualifying prior offenses. Under ACCA, a state drug-trafficking conviction qualifies as "a serious drug offense" if "a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law" for the "offense...

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Gonzalez v. United States - Jury Selection by Magistrate OK if Counsel Alone Waives Art. III Judge

Posted on May 12, 2008
Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen who does not speak English, was represented by counsel at his federal drug-trafficking trial. After appearing before a United States district judge at several pretrial conferences, he was brought before a United States magistrate judge for jury selection...

Virginia v. Moore - Search OK Following Arrest Violating State Law

Posted on April 23, 2008
Rather than issuing the summons required by Virginia law, police arrested Moore for the misdemeanor of driving on a suspended license. A search incident to the arrest yielded crack cocaine, for which Moore was charged and tried. The trial court declined to suppress the evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds...

Begay v. United States: DUI not a Violent Felony under ACCA

Posted on April 16, 2008
ACCA imposes a special mandatory 15-year prison term upon felons who unlawfully possess a firearm and who have three or more prior convictions for certain drug crimes or "violent felonies." Begay had 12 prior convictions for driving while intoxicated in violation of New Mexico law...

Burgess v. United States: Misdemenaor=Felony

Posted on April 16, 2008
The federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. з 841(b)(1)(A), doubles the mandatory minimum sentence for certain federal drug crimes if the defendant was previously convicted of a "felony drug offense." Burgess pled guilty to a federal crack charge carrying 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, but that mandatory minimum sentence was doubled to 20 years based on a prior South Carolina misdemeanor drug conviction that carried a maximum sentence of two years...

Baze v. Rees: Lethal Injection Cocktail Constitutional

Posted on April 16, 2008
In a fractured opinion, a plurality of the Court held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not prohibit the most common method of lethal injection, involving a three-drug cocktail, sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride...

Medellin v. Texas - International Law vs. States' Rights

Posted on March 25, 2008
In the Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U.S.), I.C.J. No. 128 Judgment of Mar. 31, 2004), the International Court of Justice determined that 51 named Mexican nationals, including petitioner, were entitled to receive review and reconsideration of their convictions and sentences through the judicial process in the United States without regard for procedural defaults...

Snyder v. Louisiana - Successful Batson Challenge

Posted on March 13, 2008
Allen Snyder, a black man, was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, for the fatal stabbing of his wife?s male companion. Prior to trial, the prosecutor reported to the media that this was his ?O.J. Simpson case...

Boulware v. United States - Return of Capital Defense to Tax Evasion

Posted on March 03, 2008
Boulware was charged with criminal tax evasion and filing a false income tax return for diverting funds from a closely held corporation, of which he was the president, founder, and controlling shareholder. One element of tax evasion under 26 U. S. C. з7201 is ?the existence of a tax deficiency...

Watson: Not "Use" to Barter Drugs for Gun

Posted on December 10, 2007
In Watson v. U.S., No. 06-571 (Dec. 10, 2007), the Supreme Court held that a person who trades drugs for a gun does not "use" a firearm and is therefore not guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. з 924(c), which criminalizes use of a firearm during and in connection with a drug trafficking offense...

Gall: Reasonableness Review is Deferential

Posted on December 10, 2007
In Gall v. U.S., No. 06-7949 (Dec. 10, 2007), the Supreme Court held that while the extent of the difference between a particular sentence and the recommended Guideline range is relevant, courts of appeal must review all sentences ? whether inside, just outside, or significantly outside the Guidelines range ? under a deferential abuse of discretion standard...

Kimbrough: Crack Guidelines Advisory Only

Posted on December 10, 2007
In Kimbrough v. U.S., No. 06-6330 (Dec. 10, 2007), the Supreme Court held that under Booker the crack cocaine Guidelines, like all other Guidelines, are advisory only. A district judge therefore may consider the crack/powder disparity when sentencing crack cocaine offenders, and impose a below-Guidelines sentence if a within-Guidelines sentence is "greater than necessary" to serve the objectives of sentencing set forth at 18 U...

Logan: Civil Rights Never Lost are not "Restored"

Posted on December 04, 2007
In Logan v. U.S., No. 06-6911 (Dec. 4, 2007), the Supreme Court held that the ACCA provision which instructs sentencing courts to disregard a prior conviction if a defendant?s civil rights have been "restored" does not apply if, under the state law governing the prior conviction, the defendant retained his civil rights at all times...

Government Brief Filed in Gall

Posted on August 23, 2007
The Solicitor General has filed the government's brief in Gall, arguing that Mr. Gall's probationary sentence is unreasonably lenient under proportionality review, which it contends is the appropriate standard in appeals of below-guidelines sentences.

Gall & Kimbrough Briefs Filed

Posted on July 27, 2007
A host of remarkable briefs have been filed in the two pending sentencing guidelines cases addressing reasonableness review, Gall v. United States and Kimbrough v. United States. I have a number of them, which you can access for your weekend reading pleasure...

Panetti: Remand for Ford Mental Illness Review

Posted on July 05, 2007
In Panetti v. Quarterman, No. 06-6407 (June 28, 2007), the Supreme Court reversed the denial of habeas relief to a Texas inmate sentenced to death despite his well-documented history of mental illness.The Court first held that the limitation on "second and successive" habeas petitions did not require dismissal of Panetti?s claim that his mental illness rendered him incompetent to be executed, because Panetti raised the claim as soon as it was ripe ? and it became ripe after he had filed his first habeas petition...

Rita: Presumption of Reasonableness for Guideline Sentences

Posted on June 21, 2007
In Rita v. U.S., No. 06-5754 (June 21, 2007), the Supreme Court held that a court of appeals may apply a presumption of reasonableness to a district court sentence within the Guidelines.The Court noted that the presumption was not binding, and did not reflect judicial deference to the fact-finding leeway of an expert agency...

Brendlin: Passenger has 4th Amendment standing

Posted on June 18, 2007
In Brendlin v. California, No. 06-8120 (June 18, 2007), the Supreme Court held that when police make a traffic stop, a passenger in the car, like the driver, is seized for Fourth Amendment purposes and may challenge the stop?s constitutionality.The defendant was a passenger in a vehicle that had been pulled over without reason to believe that it was being operated unlawfully, that is, without probably cause or reasonable suspicion to make the stop...

Four New Death Cases: Schriro, Smith, Brewer & Abdul-Kabir

Posted on May 22, 2007
In Schriro v. Landrigan, No. 05-1575 (May 22, 2007), the Supreme Court held that the district court did not err in denying an evidentiary hearing regarding whether counsel gave ineffective assistance at a capital sentencing, when the defendant opposed counsel putting on mitigating evidence and interrupted counsel when he attempted to do so...

James: Florida Attempted Burglary is Violent Felony

Posted on April 20, 2007
In James v. U.S., No. 05-9264 (April 18, 2006), the Supreme Court held that the offense of attempted burglary, as defined by Florida law, qualifies as a "violent felony" for purposes of the 15-year mandatory minimum of 18 U.S.C. з 924(e).The Court noted that the statutory definition of "violent felony" did not exclude attempt offenses...

Whorton: No Retroactivity for Crawford

Posted on March 05, 2007
In Whorton v. Bockting, No. 05-595 (Feb. 28, 2007), the Supreme Court held that it gave no retroactive effect to its Confrontation Clause holding in Crawford v. Washington that testimonial statements of witnesses absent from a trial are admissible only where the declarant is unavailable and only where the defendant has had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the witness...

Lawrence: AEDPA not tolled during federal certiorari appeal of final state decision

Posted on February 20, 2007
In Lawrence v. Florida, No. 05-8820 (Feb. 20, 2007), the Supreme Court affirmed the Eleventh Circuit?s holding that a federal habeas petitioner?s habeas petition was untimely, because the time after the final determination of the Florida state courts, during which the petitioner was seeking (unsuccessfully) certiorari review in the United States Supreme Court, did not toll the one-year statute of limitations for federal habeas petitions...

Rita and Claiborne Reply Briefs Filed

Posted on February 12, 2007
With oral argument just days away, petitioners filed their reply briefs, which can be found here: Rita and Claiborne.

Government & Friends File Rita & Claiborne Briefs

Posted on January 22, 2007
On the heels of the Court's Cunningham decision earlier today, the Solicitor General filed the government's briefs in Rita and Claiborne. In case the SG missed something, the U.S. Sentencing Commission weighed in, adding its self-defense by filing an amicus brief for both cases...

Cunningham: California's DSL Struck Down

Posted on January 22, 2007
In Cunningham v. California, No. 06-6551 (Jan. 22, 2007), the Supreme Court held that California?s determinate sentencing law (DSL) violates the rule of Apprendi, because it authorizes a judge to enhance a sentence based on aggravating facts found by the judge, not the jury...

Jones v. Bock: PLRA Exhaustion

Posted on January 22, 2007
Jones v. Bock, 127 S. Ct. ___ (Jan. 22, 2007). Local circuit rules that require an inmate to plead and prove exhaustion in his initial complaint are not required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act. Indeed, Chief Justice Roberts wrote for a unanimous Court, such rules exceed the permissible scope of the PLRA because the exhaustion question is not a pleading requirement, but rather it is an affirmative defense to be raised first by the respondent...

Brendlin v. California - 4th Amendment cert grant

Posted on January 19, 2007
Seizure of Passenger in Vehicle During Traffic Stop. Brendlin v. California, 127 S. Ct. ___ (cert. granted Jan. 19, 2007); decision below at 136 P.3d 845 (Cal. 2006) (en banc). Defendant was a passenger in a vehicle driven by another that was subjected to a traffic stop...

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