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Sentencing Law and Policy
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Not much for sentencing fans as SCOTUS starts a new Term and releases first big order list

By Douglas Berman

Law nerds like me always get excited for the return of the Supreme Court on the first Monday in October.  But, despite all of the drama and jurisprudential change of the last Term (OT21) and the possibility of more of the same in the Term ahead (OT22), the sentencing nerd in me cannot completely suppress a yawn on this SCOTUS opening day.  Among the OT22 cases on which cert has already been granted, there are relatively few criminal matters and many of those involve only intricate procedural issues.  (That said, for federal prisoners, Jones v. Hendrix, No. 21-857, to be argued on November 1, is a big deal.)

I was hoping there might be at least a smidge of sentencing or criminal justice excitement in today’s first OT22 Order List after the so-called “long conference” last week.  The list starts with a smattering of GVRs based on last Term’s later criminal cases, particularly the sentencing case Concepcion.  But then we get to the list of cert grants, and only two of the nine grants involve criminal matters  — and both the new SCOTUS cases involve matters that are a very long way from the day-to-day issues involved in the millions of criminal cases and sentencings that transpire every year in the US.

That all said, I know that there are some notable sentencing cases not yet fully briefed for cert consideration (including the McClinton acquitted conduct case for which I helped filed one of a number of amicus briefs).  So it is certainly possible that OT22 will end up having some juicy sentencing cases — and it certainly will end up having at least a few more (perhaps many more) criminal cases.  Moreover, given the current composition of the Court and its recent work in the Eighth Amendment arena, I suspect some folks  likely see a light SCOTUS sentencing docket in OT22 as a development to be celebrated.  But, perhaps biased by my own eagerness to have interesting matters to cover on this blog, while so many others are so troubled these days by what the current Court is doing, I find myself compelled to complain here about what the Court is largely failing to do.

As always, an especially on this opening day for SCOTUS “first pitch,” I welcome comments of the state of the Court’s sentencing and criminal docket.  Predictions about cases the Court might still take up or expected future developments or just about any concerns and complaints about its activities in this arena are welcome.  (Notably, after extraordinary SCOTUS personnel transitions over the last six years, I am inclined to predict that the current Court may not see another change in membership for the next six or longer.)