The Supreme Court has a conference tomorrow, and SCOTUSblog's list of "reasonable chance" cases is here. There are two criminal cases on the list.

In McDonald v. United States, No. 06-440, former SG Kenneth Starr maintains that the defendant, an African-American L.A. politician, was the victim of racial gerrymandering by trying the case in the O.C. The panel that rejected this claim included those notorious pro-prosecution hardliners, Judges Harry Pregerson and Myron Bright. I would be surprised if they take it.

In Pinks v. North Dakota, No. 06-564, Jeff Fisher seeks to explore the application of Crawford v. Washington to forensic lab reports. Stay tuned for CSI:SCOTUS.

Not on the SCOTUSblog list is Knowles v. Mirzayance, No. 06-396. This one would seem to have a "reasonable chance" just from the sheer number of times it has been relisted. This is its sixth trip to the conference. Could be they are considering summary reversal and working on the opinion. The Ninth Circuit's unpublished memorandum affirmed a grant of habeas relief for ineffective assistance in withdrawing an insanity plea. District Judge Suko dissented.