The Supreme Court’s October 2019 term begins with two oral arguments in criminal cases next Monday. Below is a list of criminal cases granted certiorari, the question presented, and the date of argument.
Kahler v. Kansas, No. 18-6135: Issue—Whether the Eighth and 14th Amendments permit a state to abolish the insanity defense? Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument October 7, 2019.
Ramos v. California, No. 18-5924: Whether the Fourteenth Amendment fully incorporates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a unanimous verdict? Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument October 7, 2019.
Mathena v. Malvo, No. 18-217; Issue—Whether the Fourth Circuit erred in concluding—in direct conflict with Virginia's highest court and other courts—that a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016)) addressing whether a new constitutional rule announced in an earlier decision (Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012)) applies retroactively on collateral review may properly be interpreted as modifying and substantively expanding the very rule whose retroactivity was in question? Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument October 16, 2019.
Kansas v. Glover, No. 18-556: Issue—Whether, for purposes of an investigative stop under the Fourth Amendment, it is reasonable for an officer to suspect that the registered owner of a vehicle is the one driving the vehicle absent any information to the contrary. Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court's website here.
Banister v. Davis, No. 18-6943: Issue—Whether and under what circumstances a timely Rule 59(e) motion should be recharacterized as a second or successive habeas petition under Gonzalez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524 (2005). Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument December 4, 2019.
Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, No. 18-7739: Issue—Whether a formal objection after pronouncement of sentence is necessary to invoke appellate reasonableness review of the length of a defendant’s sentence. Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument December 10, 2019.
McKinney v. Arizona, No. 18-1109; Issues—Whether the Arizona Supreme Court was required to apply current law when weighing mitigating and aggravating evidence to determine whether a death sentence is warranted; and (2) whether the correction of error under Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104 (1982), requires resentencing. Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here. Argument December 11, 2019.
The following cases have been granted certiorari but not yet scheduled for oral argument.
Kelly v. United States, No. 18-1059: Issue—Whether a public official “defraud[s]” the government of its property by advancing a “public policy reason” for an official decision that is not her subjective “real reason” for making the decision.Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here.
Shular v. United States, No. 18-6662: Issue—Whether the determination of a “serious drug offense” under the Armed Career Criminal Act requires the same categorical approach used in the determination of a “violent felony” under the act. Merits briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here.
United States v. Sineneng-Smith, No. 19-67: Issue—Whether the federal criminal prohibition against encouraging or inducing illegal immigration for commercial advantage or private financial gain, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (B)(i), is facially unconstitutional. Certiorari stage briefing is available on the Supreme Court’s website here.
The Supreme Court may grant certiorari to review additional criminal cases as the term progresses.