Fantastic review of ’04 SCOTUS term from criminal defense perspective

From the great Ninth Circuit Blog, I just saw a terrific resource examining the October 2004 Supreme Court term from a criminal defense perspective.  This resource, which is available here, is titled “Reviewing The Supreme Court 2004-05 Term From A Defense Perspective” and is summarized in this post over at the Ninth Circuit Blog.  Here is the insightful introduction to the document’s review of the SCOTUS term just completed:

This Term has had an unusual array of cases that will affect the practice of federal criminal defense. In going through the opinions to look for hidden gems, three major themes emerge. First, the protection of core constitutional rights has solidified in a surprising number of cases.  Second, the Doctrine of Constitutional Avoidance continues to provide a key analytical framework for federal litigation. Lastly, the Court’s devotion of so much time to the rules of statutory construction emphasizes the need for federal defense attorneys to incorporate them into our litigation vocabulary.  The overall message is to hit constitutional issues hard, but layer them with statutory arguments that avoid the necessity of resolving the constitutional questions.