Argument analysis: Peace cross appears safe, if not stable For nearly a century, a 40-foot-tall stone and concrete cross has stood on a traffic median in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, just a few miles from the Supreme Court. But seven years ago, a group of local residents filed a lawsuit seeking to have the cross removed. They argue that the presence of the cross on public land violates the Constitution, which bars the government from establishing an official religion and favoring one religion over another. The state of Maryland, which owns and maintains the cross, and the American Legion, which built it, counter that the cross – which is badly in need of repair – is simply a secular war memorial. Today the justices heard oral argument in the dispute, and it seemed likely that the cross will survive the challenge, even if the court’s ruling proves to be a relatively narrow one that allows the peace cross and other historical monuments to stand while making clear that new religious symbols may not pass muster in the future. Continue reading »

Argument analysis: Justices skeptical of government’s claim that pretrial imprisonment tolls a term of federal supervised release At Tuesday’s oral argument in Mont v. United States, the justices considered whether a term of federal supervised release is tolled, or put on hold, when someone on supervised release is held in pretrial detention on a new criminal charge. In analyzing this question, the justices focused on the text of 18 U.S.C. § 3624(e), which provides that supervised release does not run “during any period in which the person is imprisoned in connection with a conviction for a Federal, State, or local crime unless the imprisonment is for a period of less than 30 consecutive days.” The legal dispute before the Supreme Court concerned the expiration date of Jason Mont’s federal supervised-release term. Mont had been sentenced in federal court to 84 months in prison and five years of supervised release, a form of post-custodial supervision in the federal system. Mont began his supervision term in 2012, but he was later arrested in state court on new charges. He entered state pretrial custody on the new charges roughly 10 months before his federal supervised-release term had been set to expire. Although Mont was ultimately convicted and sentenced on the new state charges, the federal judge overseeing Mont’s behavior on supervised release did not issue a warrant for a violation of supervised release until after the initial end date of Mont’s federal supervision term. Continue reading »

Opinion analysis: Court orders new look at death sentence for Alabama inmate with dementia Today the Supreme Court gave an Alabama death-row inmate at least a temporary reprieve, sending the case back to the lower courts for them to consider whether the inmate’s dementia leaves him so incompetent that he cannot be executed. The vote was 5-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s four more liberal justices in a ruling in favor of the inmate. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion that was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch; Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in the case, which was argued before he joined the court. Continue reading »

Wednesday round-up Today the justices close out the February session with an argument in the most notable case of the term so far, The American Legion v. American Humanist Association, an establishment clause challenge to a World War I memorial shaped like a cross on public property. Amy Howe had this blog’s preview. Lauren Devendorf and Tyler Schmitt preview the case for Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. Subscript Law has a graphic explainer. [Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is counsel on an amicus brief in support of the petitioners in this case.] Continue reading »

Argument analysis: Court poised to rule for challenger in dispute over constitutionality of sex-offender law This morning the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a dispute over the constitutionality of a federal law that requires convicted sex offenders to return to prison for at least five years – and possibly for the rest of their lives – if a judge finds that they have committed certain crimes. The defendant in the case, an Oklahoma man who served time for possessing child pornography and was then sent back to prison after he violated the terms of his supervised release, argues that the law violates his right to have his sentence determined by a jury, rather than a judge, beyond a reasonable doubt. Today the justices seemed overwhelmingly likely to agree with him, even if it was not entirely clear how they will remedy the constitutional violation. Continue reading »

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