Legal Commentary

Supreme Court Declines to Reconsider Constitutionality of Convictions by Non-Unanimous Juries

By Eugene Volokh

I regret to say that the Court has denied my petition for certiorari challenging Oregon?s practice of allowing convictions by 10?2 and 11?1 votes. For more on the issue, see here, or just look at the cert petition. I?m disappointed, but of course not surprised ? for virtually any cert petition, the chances of getting a grant are very slim. And I found the process of drafting a cert petition to be very interesting, enjoyable, and educational.

Many thanks to all who have helped me with this, including Bear Wilner-Nugent and DeAnna Horne (Mr. Herrera?s lawyers below); Don Falk, Brette Simon, Brian Wong, Robert Matthews, Patricia Perretti, Helene Siegel, Stephen Wells, and Kristine Neale (colleagues of mine at Mayer Brown LLP); Profs. Shari S. Diamond, Valerie P. Hans, Kenneth S. Klein, Stephan Landsman, Michael J. Saks, Rita Simon, Neil Vidmar, Jeffrey B. Abramson, Barbara Aldave, Leslie Harris, Carrie Leonetti, Margie Paris, Ofer Raban, Laura Appelman, Caroline L. Davidson, Susan Mandiberg, and Kate Stith, and the Oregon Federal Public Defender and the Lousiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (amici who filed briefs on our side); and Prof. Ken Klein, Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, Aaron Katz, Eugene Morgulis, Prof. Carrie Leonetti, C. Renée Manes, Laura Graser, G. Ben Cohen, Jee Y. Park, and Joshua Perry (the lawyers for those amici). In the words of Hilaire Belloc (who as it happens was the great-grandson of Elizabeth Ryland Priestley, an earlier writer on the freedom of speech), ?Decisive action in the hour of need / Denotes the Hero, but does not succeed.?

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on January 10, 2011 (boomark / email).