SCOTUS grants cert on post-Booker ex post facto issue and DNA collection from arrestees

As reported in this SCOTUSblog post, the Supreme Court granted cert in four cases on Friday afternoon, two of which involve interesting criminal justice issues.  Both the criminal justice grants will get much less attention than the Justices’ decision to take up a Voting Rights Act case.  (And the cool post-Booker sentencing issue in one of the criminal justice grants will get less attention than the DNA issue in the other.)  Via SCOTUSblog, here are the basics of the two criminal justice grants:

** Maryland v. King (12-207): Whether it violates the Fourth Amendment rights of an individual who is arrested and charged with a serious crime, but not convicted, for police to take an involuntary DNA sample.  Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., earlier had blocked a ruling by Maryland’s highest state court finding a Fourth Amendment violation when the individual has not yet been convicted of a crime.

** Peugh v. United States (12-62): Whether it is a violation of the Constitution’s Ex Post Facto clause for a federal judge to impose a criminal sentence based on federal Guidelines in effect at the time of sentencing, if that sentence is longer than the Guidelines had specified at the time the crime was committed.  Lower courts are split on the issue.

In the weeks ahead, I will have a lot to say about Peugh, which raises interesting issues concerning the import and impact of the guidelines in the post-Booker federal sentencing system.