SCOTUS to wrap up 2021 oral arguments with two more criminal cases

With big cases concerning abortion (Hobbs) and gun rights (Bruen), the start of the SCOTUS Term has had plenty of big arguments involving big issues that probably could be viewed through a criminal justice lens.  And, with arguments on the Boston Marathon bomber’s sentence (Tsarnaev) and the right to a pastor in the execution chamber (Ramirez), the death penalty has also been on the SCOTUS docket.  And, of course, what would a SCOTUS Term be without the requisite ACCA case (Wooden) and a case dealing with habeas procedure (Davenport).

But my SCOTUS criminal justice cup cannot run over, and thus it is worth nothing that the Justice have two more criminal cases on the docket for its last two days of scheduled oral argument for 2021.  With thanks to SCOTUSblog, here are the basics:

US v. Taylor, No. 20-1459, to be argued on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 

Issue(s): Whether 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A)’s definition of “crime of violence” excludes attempted Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a).

 

 

Shinn v. Ramirez, No. 20-1009, to be argued on Wednesday, December 8, 2021:

 

Issue(s): Whether application of the equitable rule the Supreme Court announced in Martinez v. Ryan renders the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which precludes a federal court from considering evidence outside the state-court record when reviewing the merits of a claim for habeas relief if a prisoner or his attorney has failed to diligently develop the claim’s factual basis in state court, inapplicable to a federal court’s merits review of a claim for habeas relief.