For 60 years, the Criminal Justice Act has ensured that defendants who cannot afford to retain an attorney receive professional legal counsel by providing funding for court-appointed counsel in federal cases.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest
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The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Monday in a case that one legal expert has called the “most important Supreme Court case about homelessness in at least 40 years.” The issue before the court is the constitutionality of ordinances in an Oregon town that bar people who are homeless from using blankets, pillows, or cardboard boxes for protection from the elements while sleeping within the city limits. Defending the ordinances, the city contends that the laws simply … Read the rest
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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.
Organized crime, from the mafia to small-time money laundering schemes, often evades criminal prosecution. To bolster efforts to fight organized crime, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, more than 50 years ago. In addition to the criminal penalties for violating RICO, the law also … Read the rest
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The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.
Since our last installment, the Supreme Court has continued slowly chipping away at the still-sizable number of lingering relists from the end-of-summer “long conference.” The court denied review in five-time relist Johnson v. Prentice, involving an Illinois prisoner’s claim that his nearly three-year term of solitary confinement constituted cruel and unusual … Read the rest
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The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.
A lot has happened since our last installment. The Supreme Court granted review of one-time relists Garland v. Cargill, involving whether bump stocks are “machineguns” and thus generally prohibited, and Coinbase, Inc. v. Suski, involving whether a court or an arbitrator should decide whether an arbitration agreement that generally delegates the … Read the rest
This week the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal criminal law passed in 2013 regarding cyberstalking, holding that it passes constitutional muster. U.S. v. Yung, Case No. 19-1640 (3d Cir.). The case arose in the context of a criminal matter involving a student who was rejected from Georgetown University Law Center after interviewing with an alumni representative. The decision issued by a three-judge panel is precedential and will impact other federal cyber litigations. Read on to learn … Read the rest
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This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether Georgia corrections can prevent a Muslim prisoner from growing an untrimmed beard in accordance with his religious beliefs, and whether defendants can only bring Brady claims for the prosecution’s failure to disclose exculpatory evidence if they meet a due diligence requirement.
Muslim prisoner argues that Georgia corrections’ limit on beard lengths violates his religious exercise
In Smith v. Ward, Lester Smith … Read the rest
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This week we highlight cert petitions that ask the Supreme Court to consider, among other things, whether defendants have standing to assert violations of an extradition treaty and whether the wire fraud statute applies extraterritorially to reach a defendant’s conduct committed only in Nigeria.
El Chapo seeks standing to argue that his trial violated the extradition treaty with Mexico
Guzman Loera v. United States is a petition brought by Joaquin Guzman Loera, better known as El Chapo, the former … Read the rest