Lots of SCOTUS cert grants, including at least one sentencing case

As SCOTUSblog reports here, “the Supreme Court granted certiorari in 17 cases this morning.  The orders list is at this link.” Though there seem to be a few criminal cases in the mix, and I noticed Begay v. US on the grant list.  Begay, as noted here, is a case from the Tenth Circuit concerning whether drunk driving convictions should qualify as “violent felonies” under the Armed Career Criminal Act.  The circuits are divided on this issue, and so I do not think this is a surpising (or likely to be especially consequential) case for the Court.

UPDATE: SCOTUSblog has details about all the cert grants here and here, and it appears that a second case, US v. Rodriquez, is also about ACCA predicate offenses.  It does not appear that any other sentencing issues are among today’s select seventeen.

MORE:  As detailed in this new post, the Court has also taken up the constitutionality of lethal injection protocols.