Question presented: Whether a predicate prior conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act must qualify as such under the elements of the offense simpliciter, without extending the modified categorical approach to separate statutory definitional provisions that merely establish the means by which referenced elements may be satisfied rather than stating alternative elements or versions of… Read more
A. Cert Grants
Question presented: Whether, after a judge has discharged a jury from service in a case and the jurors have left the judge’s presence, the judge may recall the jurors for further service in the same case. Lower court decision: Dietz v. Bouldin, 794 F.3d 1093 (9th Cir. 2015) Docket Scotusblog page The federal circuit courts… Read more
Question presented: Is there a common law “special circumstances” exception to the Prison Litigation Reform Act that relieves an inmate of his mandatory obligation to exhaust administrative remedies when the inmate erroneously believes that he satisfied exhaustion by participating in an internal investigation? Lower court opinion: Blake v. Ross, 787 F.3d 693 (4th Cir. 2015) Docket… Read more
Question presented: Whether the Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Clause applies to the sentencing phase of a criminal prosecution, protecting a criminal defendant from inordinate delay in final disposition of his case. Lower court opinion: State v. Betterman, 342 P. 3d 971 (Mont. 2015) Docket Scotusblog page In Pollard v. United States, 352 U.S. 354, 361… Read more
Question presented: Whether 42 U.S.C. § 16913(a) requires a sex offender who resides in a foreign country to update his registration in the jurisdiction where he formerly resided. Lower court opinion: United States v. Nichols, 775 F.3d 1225 (10th Cir. 2014) Docket Scotusblog page The resolution of this question will be of interest to federal criminal law… Read more
Question presented: Does a misdemeanor crime with the mens rea of recklessness qualify as a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,” as defined under 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(33)(A) and 922(g)(9)? Lower court opinion: United States v. Voisine, 778 F.3d 176 (1st Cir. 2015); Docket; Scotusblog page Under 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(33)(A) and 922(g)(9), a person convicted of a “misdemeanor crime… Read more
Question Presented: Whether, in a federal criminal prosecution under the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. §1951, the Government is relieved of proving beyond a reasonable doubt the interstate commerce element by relying exclusively on evidence that the robbery or attempted robbery of a drug dealer is an inherent economic enterprise that satisfies, as a matter of… Read more
Question Presented: Where an error in the application of the United States Sentencing Guidelines results in the application of the wrong Guideline range to a criminal defendant, should an appellate court presume, for purposes of plain-error review under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b), that the error affected the defendant’s substantial rights? Lower court decision… Read more
