Quite the SCOTUS Term shaping up for those intrigued by drugs on the docket

Regular readers recall my eagerness to flag the work of the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University in the form of our “Drugs on the Docket” podcast.  As noted in prior posts when the podcast was first released, a set of six episodes comprises the first season, with each episode running under an hour.  The whole original season is fully available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and YouTube.  As noted last month, the “Drugs on the Docket” team (of which I am a member) this fall produced some updated content through shorter recordings covering new developments related to issue each of the full episodes of Season 1. 

I have noted before my (admittedly biased) view that the curated discussions in this “Drugs on the Docket” podcast are all interesting and informative, and I am persistently eager to encourage everyone to check out this podcast webpage and to add the podcast to their holiday listening plans.   But it dawned on me today, as I was thinking about some of the Supreme Court’s recent cert grants in criminal justice cases, that the current SCOTUS Term is full of drugs on their docket.  Specifically, I count at least five criminal cases on the Supreme Court’s docket that are integrally connected to big issues in drug prosecutions and sentencings.  With help from SCOTUS blog, consider:

Pulsifer v. U.S., No. 22-340 [argued 10.2.2023]: sentencing in federal drug cases

Culley v. Marshall, No. 22-585 [argued 10.30.2023]: due process rules for forfeitures (often in drug cases)

Brown v. U.S., No. 22-6389 [to be argued 11.27.2023]: defining serious drug offenses for ACCA sentencing

Smith v. Arizona, No. 22-899 [to be argued: 1.10.2024]: Confrontation Clause rules for experts (often in drug cases)

Diaz v. U.S., No. 23-14 [still to be set for argument]: expert testimony on mens rea in drug offense

And this list leaves out some other notable criminal cases, like Rahimi dealing with the reach of the Second Amendment and the new Erlinger case dealing with ACCA application (among others), that will surely echo through the prosecution of drug defendants in various ways.  We are already hard at work on Drugs on the Docket season 2, and SCOTUS may be helping to ensure we have plenty of content for many seasons to come.