The U.S. Supreme Court accepted three criminal and habeas cases for review next term. We previously noted Cone v. Bell, No. 07-1114 on procedural default and Harbison v. Bell, No. 07-8521 on federally funded counsel for state clemency petitions.

Also granted was Arizona v. Johnson, No. 07-1122. The question presented in the Arizona Court of Appeals was, "During a routine traffic stop, may an officer conduct a pat-down search of a potentially armed and dangerous passenger when the officer has no grounds to investigate the passenger for any crime and the pat-down search is conducted solely to assure the officer’s safety in a wholly separate, consensual investigation of the passenger unrelated to the original stop of the vehicle?"

No decisions in Heller v. DC (gun law) orKennedy v. La. (death penalty for child rape) yet. Lower profile criminal and related decisions were issued in Rothgery v. Gillespie County and Greenlaw v. United States.