Legal Research

"Supreme Court on 'Private Criminal Contempt' Proceedings"

This post was written by Chuck Kallendorf: "Victims of domestic violence advocates are sounding the warning about a little-noticed U.S. Supreme Court case they say could make it much harder for battered women and men to enforce restraining orders against their abusers, a Law.com article yesterday reported.

"The case Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson, argued this morning, challenges the way restraining orders are enforced in the District of Columbia," the article says. "D.C. law allows victims themselves to bring criminal contempt charges when abusers infringe on a court order, and at least 14 states have similar setups, according to an amicus brief filed by George Washington University Law School's Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project."

ScotusBlog has more here.

Petition for certiorari
Brief in opposition

George Washington University's amicus brief

To reach the blog post and the active links, click on the author's name.

Source: Hamilton County Law Library Blog, 31 March 2010. Reproduced with permission.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on April 01, 2010 (boomark / email).