Summary: This week the Court granted certiorari to two new cases, heard six cases in oral arguments and issued seven opinions. We review the following cases: Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye - wherein the court answers the open question of whether criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective counsel during the plea bargaining stage of the criminal process, particularly where a defendant ultimately rejects a favorable plea deal based on the erroneous advice of counsel and where counsel fails to communicate a plea offer to his or her client causing the deal to expire. Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, wherein the Supreme Court must decide whether the eighth amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment applies in two separate cases where 14 year old boys were sentenced to life in prison without a chance for parole after being convicted of murder. Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. wherein the Supreme Court considers whether a patent for diagnostic tests used in the treatment of auto immune diseases is patentable or not patentable because it involves no more than the laws of nature. Ryan v. Gonzales and Tibbals v. Carter - wherein the court returns to the question of the mental health of defendants in capital cases - this time the Court considers whether death row inmates’ federal habeas proceedings may be stayed if they are not competent to assist appointed counsel. Reichle v. Howards, which considers whether secret service agents should be entitled to qualified or absolute immunity from a First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim where probable cause existed for the arrest but the plaintiff citizen claims that he was arrested only because he made a negative comment to Vice President Cheney about the war in Iraq which two secret service agents took offense to. Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Md., wherein the Supreme Court examined whether an employee of a state can bring a lawsuit against the state under the Family Medical Leave Act allowing an individual to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to tend to one’s own serious health condition or whether the doctrine of sovereign immunity would prohibit the lawsuit for monetary damages against the state. Sackett v. EPA, wherein property owners who began building a house on their property were ordered to stop by the EPA because their property consisted of wetlands - the order threatened the couple with enormous fines if they failed to comply but did not provide them with a direct means of challenging the order. Martinez v. Ryan, which consider whether a defendant has a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel in his first collateral post-conviction relief proceeding to pursue a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel in a state which bars him from pursuing an ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim during direct appeal. OPINIONS (click to download) Lafler v. Cooper (10-209) Missouri v. Frye (10-444) Sackett v. EPA (10-1062) Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, Inc. (10-1399) Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (10-1150) Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Md. (10-1016) Martinez v. Ryan (10-1001) GRANTS OF CERTIORARI (click on case name to download lower court decision) Ryan v. Gonzales (Ninth Circuit) Tibbals v. Carter (Sixth Circuit) ORAL ARGUMENT TRANSCRIPTS AND AUDIO (click to download) Astrue v. Capato (11-159) Audio Transcript Southern Union Co. v. United States (11-94) Audio Transcript Miller v. Alabama (10-9646) Audio Transcript Jackson v. Hobbs (10-9647) Audio Transcript Vasquez v. United States (11-199) Audio Transcript Reichle v. Howards (11-262) Audio Transcript
