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Somewhat overlooked at the end of the United States Supreme Court’s October 2014 term was a contentious 5-4 decision on the application of the death penalty in Glossip v. Gross. On Wednesday, October 7, the second day of oral arguments for the term, the Supreme Court wasted no time in turning its attention back towards the death penalty in Kansas v. Gleason and Kansas v. Carr. The cases ask the Court to decide whether the Eighth Amendment requires that capital juries be “affirmatively instructed” that mitigating circumstances need not be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Will the October 2015 term be remembered, as some commentators are predicting, for its remarkable Eighth Amendment focus?

Featuring:

  • William J. Haun, Associate, Hunton & Williams LLP