SCOTUS Orders: 10/5/2015
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Following on the cert grants from late last week, the Supreme Court issued another order list this morning. It is quite lengthy, with a number of GVRs based on decisions from last term, some housekeeping orders, and a very long list of denials (cert, mandamus, habeas, and rehearing). Here are a few points of interest:
(1) The SG was granted leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument in Spokeo v. Robins.
(2) The SG was invited to file a brief expressing the view of the US in the following cases:
(3) Stephen B. Bright was appointed counsel for petitioner in Foster v. Chatman.
(4) The Court issued a per curiam opinion summarily resolving Maryland v. Kulbicki (p. 77-81 of the order list). From the Court's opinion:
A criminal defendant “shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 6. We have held that this right requires effective counsel in both state and federal prosecutions, even if the defendant is unable to afford counsel. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335, 344 (1963). Counsel is unconstitutionally ineffective if his performance is both deficient, meaning his errors are “so serious” that he no longer functions as “counsel,” and prejudicial, meaning his errors deprive the defendant of a fair trial. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 687 (1984). Applying this standard in name only, the Court of Appeals of Maryland held that James Kulbicki’s defense attorneys were unconstitutionally ineffective. We summarily reverse.....Kulbicki’s trial counsel did not provide deficient performance when they failed to uncover the 1991 report [suggesting flaws in Comparative Lead Bullet Analysis] and to use the report’s so-called methodological flaw against [agent] Peele on cross-examination. (We need not, and so do not, decide whether the supposed error prejudiced Kulbicki.) The petition for writ of certiorari is granted, and the judgment of the Court of Appeals for Maryland is reversed."
Author and FoxNews.com Contributor
John R. Lott, Jr. is an economist who has held research and/or teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford, UCLA, Wharton, and Rice and was the chief economist at the United States Sentencing Commission during 1988 and 1989. He has published over 100 articles in academic journals. He also is the author of six books including More Guns, Less Crime, Freedomnomics, The Bias Against Guns, and Are Predatory Commitments Credible? He has just released another book entitled "Debacle: Obama's war on jobs and growth and what we can do now to regain our future." Lott is a FoxNews.com contributor and a weekly columnist for them. Opinion pieces by Prof. Lott have appeared in such places as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Tribune. He has appeared on such television programs as the ABC and NBC National Evening News broadcasts, Fox News, "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and the "Today Show." He received his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA in 1984.
Director, Faculty Programs & Division Administrator, The Federalist Society
Anthony Deardurff serves as Director of Faculty Programs & Division Administrator. He previously practiced complex commercial and appellate litigation in the Washington, D.C. office of WilmerHale, LLP, and clerked on both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Mr. Deardurff earned his J.D. cum laude from Notre Dame Law School and his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Dallas, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He holds a license to practice in both Illinois and the District of Columbia.