Greer v. United States, No. 19-8709, cert. granted 1/11/21; SCOTUSblog page
Whether, when applying plain-error review based on an intervening United States Supreme Court decision, Rehaif v. United States, a circuit court of appeals may review matters outside the trial record to determine whether the error affected a defendant’s substantial rights or impacted the fairness, integrity or public reputation of the trial.
United States v. Gary, No. 20-444, cert granted 1/8/21; SCOTUSblog page
Whether a defendant who pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) and 924(a), is automatically entitled to plain error relief if the district court did not advise him that one element of that offense is knowledge of his status as a felon, regardless of whether he can show that the district court’s error affected the outcome of the proceedings.
United States v. Palomar-Santiago, No. 20-437, cert granted 1/8/21; SCOTUSblog page
Whether charges that a non-citizen illegally reentered the United States should be dismissed when the non-citizen’s removal was based on a misclassification of a prior conviction.
Caniglia v. Strom, USSC No. 20-157, cert granted 11/20/20
Whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home.
United States v. Cooley, USSC No. 19-1414, cert. granted 11-20-20
Whether the lower courts erred in suppressing evidence on the theory that a police officer of an Indian tribe lacked authority to temporarily detain and search respondent, a non-Indian, on a public right-of-way within a reservation based on a potential violation of state or federal law.
Lange v. California, USSC No. 20-18, certiorari granted 10/19/20
Does pursuit of a person who a police officer has probable cause to believe has committed a misdemeanor categorically qualify as an exigent circumstance sufficient to allow the officer to enter a home without a warrant?
Edwards v. Vannoy, USSC No. 19-5807, certiorari granted 5/4/20
Question presented:
Does the Supreme Court’s decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. ___ (2020), apply retroactively to cases on federal collateral review?
Like the holding in Ramos itself, the decision in this case will have direct relevance only to practitioners handling federal habeas review of convictions from Louisiana or Oregon, the two jurisdictions that permitted 10-2 guilty verdicts in criminal trials before Ramos invalidated non-unanimous juries.
Jones v. Mississippi, USSC No. 18-1259, certiorari granted 3/9/20.
Question presented:
Whether the Eighth Amendment requires the sentencing authority to make a finding that a juvenile is permanently incorrigible before imposing a sentence of life without parole.
On February 26th, SCOTUS dismissed Randall Mathena, Warden v. Lee Boyd Malvo, USSC No. 18-217, which raised the same issue. Jones is a replacement case for Malvo. See our analysis of the issue in our post on Malvo here.