Monday, November 30, 2009

Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In Three Cases And Reverses Decision Requiring Disclosure Of Detainee Abuse Photos

The Supreme Court's Order List for today can be found here.

The Court entered a summary disposition in Defense Department, et al.,. v. American Civil Liberties Union, et al. (09-160), which would have required the Department of Defense to release photographs of alleged detainee abuse.

The Court granted the Solicitor General's request to participate in oral argument in Briscoe v. Virginia (07-11191). The issue in Briscoe is "f a state allows a prosecutor to introduce a certificate of a forensic laboratory analysis, without presenting the testimony of the analyst who prepared the certificate, does the state avoid violating the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment by providing that the accused has a right to call the analyst as his own witness?"  You can view the SCOTUS Wiki page here.

The Court rejected the State of Kansas', joined by many other states, request to participate in oral argument in United States v. Comstock (08-1224).  The issue in Comstock is "Whether Congress had the constitutional authority to enact 18 U.S.C. 4248, which authorizes court-ordered civil commitment by the federal government of (1) “sexually dangerous” persons who are already in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, but who are coming to the end of their federal prison sentences, and (2) “sexually dangerous” persons who are in the custody of the Attorney General because they have been found mentally incompetent to stand trial."  You can view the SCOTUS Wiki page here.

The Court also granted certiorari in three cases today (The issues are from the SCOTUS Blog): 

Morrison v. National Australia Bank (08-1191) - "Issue: Whether the judicially implied private right of action under Section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 should, in the absence of any expression of congressional intent, be extended to permit fraud-on-the-market claims by a class of foreign investors who purchased, on a foreign securities exchange, foreign stock issued by a foreign company." 

Renico v. Lett (09-338) - "Issue: Whether the Sixth Circuit erred in holding that the Michigan Supreme Court failed to apply clearly established precedent by denying habeas relief on double jeopardy grounds when the state trial court declared a mistrial after the foreperson said that the jury was not going to be able to reach a verdict."

Barber v. Thomas (09-5201) - "Issue: Does “term of imprisonment” in Section 212(a)(2) of the Sentencing Reform Act, enacting 18 U.S.C. 3624(b), unambiguously require the computation of good time credits on the basis of the sentence imposed?"

The SCOTUS Blog links to the briefs and opinions below for each of the three cases here.

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