A Citizens United Decision Tomorrow?: At SCOTUSblog, Tom Goldstein predicts that tomorrow could be the day that the Court hands down its highly anticipated decision in Citizens United v. FEC. He writes that tomorrow, and Monday, January 25th, are the last two scheduled opinion days the Court has until Tuesday, February 23rd. He believes that Citizens United is a likely candidate for a decision because "[t]he Court is also well aware of the public interest in having the
campaign finance case decided, as illustrated by the fact that it held
oral argument in late summer, outside the usual argument calendar."
Court Opens Up Jury Selection: Lyle Denniston writes on SCOTUSblog that today's decision in Presley v. Georgia (09-5270) opened up the process of selecting a jury in a criminal case to the general public. According to Denniston, the 7-2 unsigned opinion found that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a public trial gives the public the right to attend jury selection. The dissenters, Justices Thomas and Scalia, argued that Presley summarily disposed of two important questions that it had left unanswered 25 years ago in Waller v. Georgia and Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., Riverside Cty. In the dissent, Justice Thomas wrote that he was unwilling to decide these questions "without the benefit of full briefing and argument." On Blog of Legal Times, Tony Mauro comments on Presley and the rest of today's Court action. Mauro's post quickly recaps the Court's decisions in Beard v. Abu-Jamal (08-652) and Wisconsin, Michigan and New York v. Illinois, and reports that the Supreme Court cited "its own First and Sixth Amendment precedents, [to support its ruling that] the trial judge is required to consider alternatives to closure." How Appealing's Howard Bashman also collects media coverage of the Court's other ruling in Wellons v. Hall, here and here.
U. S. Sentencing Guidelines May Allow Probation for Federal Drug Offenders: Marcia Coyle reports on Blog of Legal Times that the U. S. Sentencing Commission has opened its proposed sentencing guidelines to public comment, and that one guideline would allow federal judges to sentence federal drug offenders to probation if they participate in a substance abuse treatment program. Coyle writes, "To receive the probation alternative, the commission said the offender must be a willing participant in the treatment program and must have committed the offense while addicted to a controlled substance. The offender also must have committed a lower-level offense." The Commission's Notice of Proposed Amendments is available here.
Court Opens Up Jury Selection: Lyle Denniston writes on SCOTUSblog that today's decision in Presley v. Georgia (09-5270) opened up the process of selecting a jury in a criminal case to the general public. According to Denniston, the 7-2 unsigned opinion found that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a public trial gives the public the right to attend jury selection. The dissenters, Justices Thomas and Scalia, argued that Presley summarily disposed of two important questions that it had left unanswered 25 years ago in Waller v. Georgia and Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., Riverside Cty. In the dissent, Justice Thomas wrote that he was unwilling to decide these questions "without the benefit of full briefing and argument." On Blog of Legal Times, Tony Mauro comments on Presley and the rest of today's Court action. Mauro's post quickly recaps the Court's decisions in Beard v. Abu-Jamal (08-652) and Wisconsin, Michigan and New York v. Illinois, and reports that the Supreme Court cited "its own First and Sixth Amendment precedents, [to support its ruling that] the trial judge is required to consider alternatives to closure." How Appealing's Howard Bashman also collects media coverage of the Court's other ruling in Wellons v. Hall, here and here.
U. S. Sentencing Guidelines May Allow Probation for Federal Drug Offenders: Marcia Coyle reports on Blog of Legal Times that the U. S. Sentencing Commission has opened its proposed sentencing guidelines to public comment, and that one guideline would allow federal judges to sentence federal drug offenders to probation if they participate in a substance abuse treatment program. Coyle writes, "To receive the probation alternative, the commission said the offender must be a willing participant in the treatment program and must have committed the offense while addicted to a controlled substance. The offender also must have committed a lower-level offense." The Commission's Notice of Proposed Amendments is available here.
Leave a comment