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The little SCOTUS capital case that could...?

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in this AP piece, this local story and this SCOTUSblog preview, this morning the US Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Bobby v. Bies, one of the very few capital cases on the SCOTUS docket this term.  There are so many notable aspects of this little case as it comes up from argument, I am not sure where to start my commentary. Perhaps it is the broader SCOTUS death penalty context of Bobby v. Bies that first draws my attention.  After a series of terms with numerous consequential and controversial capital cases (e.g., Baze and Kennedy and Medellin last Term), this SCOTUS Term has only two argued cases involving capital defendants.  And, notably, neither of these capital cases emerged from the deep south or west as is typical...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 27, 2009 (boomark / email).