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Two SCOTUS losses for criminal defendants

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in this SCOTUSblog post, the Supreme Court handed down two opinions this morning and they are both losses for defendants: The Court has released the opinion in Kansas v. Ventris (07-1356) . The decision below, which held for the defendant, is reversed and remanded in a 7-2 opinion by Justice Scalia, available here.  Justice Stevens filed a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Ginsburg. The Court has released the opinion in Dean v. United States (08-5274). The decision below, which held for the United States, is affirmed in a 7-2 opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, available here. Justice Stevens filed a dissenting opinion and Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion. Dean involves a sentencing opinion dealing with a mandatory minimum sentencing provision that I will likely blog about later today...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).