THE SMOKING GUN OF JURY BIAS | Who’s to Blame for All the Pain
October 12, 2016
THE SMOKING GUN
|Yesterday, the justices struggled to decide whether to make an exception to the centuries-old rule that jury deliberations are secret. This came to SCOTUS as an appeal from Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez who claims he did not receive a fair trial because one man on the jury connected his guilt to his Hispanic heritage. Several justices appeared sympathetic to Rodriguez’s appeal. JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN: “Now, here, we have screaming race bias in the jury room…the best smoking-gun evidence you’re ever going to see.” However, the conservative justices were concerned about precedent. JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO asked Rodriguez’s lawyer, “If we allow the exception that you are advocating, what do you say to…the prisoner who is going to be spending the rest of his life in prison as a result of the jury verdict that was determined by flipping a coin?”
WHO'S TO BLAME
|The Supreme Court will decide whether high-ranking Bush administration officials could be held liable for post-9/11 policies targeting mostly Muslim immigrants. JUSTICES SONIA SOTOMAYOR and ELENA KAGAN did not participate in the decision to grant review, which tees up a potential six-justice decision on the outcome of the case. Who needs nine when you could have as few as six?
BORDERLAND
|SCOTUS agreed yesterday to decide whether a U.S. Border Patrol agent can be sued for shooting and killing an unarmed Mexican teenager who was playing with friends in the concrete culvert that separates El Paso, Texas from Juarez, Mexico. At issue is whether the 4th Amendment stops at the U.S. border or extends to border areas patrolled by U.S. agents.
A SUPREME INTERVENTION
|Tuesday, the Supreme Court tossed out a state appeals court ruling that affirmed the death sentence of an Oklahoma man convicted of murder. SCOTUS ruled that the judge in the case should not have allowed relatives of the victim to tell members of the jury what an appropriate sentence would be for the defendant.
OTHER NEWS
Supreme Court deals blow to out-of-state companies on taxes
San Francisco Chronicle“The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed California to give a break to companies based in the state over companies based elsewhere when it taxes multistate business income.”
Supreme Court agrees to hear debt collection dispute
Reuters“The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether people who have filed for bankruptcy can sue companies that attempted to collect old debt from them that was not required to be paid back because of the state statutes of limitations.”
Levels of Benefits at Issue in Special Ed. Case
Ed Week“Just how much benefit must a student receive through special education to meet the goals of the key federal law? Four decades after the passage of what has become the Individuals with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Supreme Court plans to take up that question in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District.”