Tag: Criminal Law

In Durbin v. United States, 599 U.S. ____ (2023), the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope of a federal aggravated identity theft statute. The justices unanimously held that a defendant “uses” another person’s means of identification “in re...

The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in District of Columbia v Wesby. The case, which sprung from a wild D.C. party, addresses two important criminal law issues. The first is when the Fourth Amendment probable cause standard allows poli...

Racism is a hot button issue in the United States right now, and the U.S. Supreme Court is right in the middle of it. The justices recently heard oral arguments in Pena-Rodriguez v Colorado (no.15-606, 2016); in which the Court will be forced to weig...

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new term gets into full swing next week. To kick off the new Supreme Court term, the justices will hear oral arguments in five cases, along with issuing orders and a meeting to consider additional cert petitions.   ...

In Betterman v. Montana, 578 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court clarified that the Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial guarantee does not apply once a defendant has been found guilty at trial or has pleaded guilty to criminal charges. The Court�...

In Sturges v Crowninshield, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 122 (1819), the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether a New York bankruptcy law, and its retroactive application, were constitutional. The justices concluded that federal power over bankruptcy was not ex...

In United States v Hudson and Goodwin, 11 U.S. 32 (1812), the U.S. Supreme Court first considered whether the federal courts were authorized to hear criminal cases. The justices held that Congress must confer jurisdiction by statute in order for the ...

In McDonnell v United States, 579 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the conviction of the former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell. In a unanimous decision, the justices rejected federal prosecutors’ broad interpretation of the te...

In Utah v Strieff, the U.S. Supreme Court held that evidence seized incident to a lawful arrest on an outstanding warrant need not be suppressed just because the warrant was discovered during an investigatory stop, later found to be unlawful. The 5-3...

In US v Bryant 579 ___ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the inclusion of tribal-court convictions as predicate offenses under a federal domestic violence law targeting repeat offenders does not violate the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel...