Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
As Supreme Court Opens, How Far Right Will Justices Move?
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
October 7, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court began a potentially contentious election-year term Monday in seeming general agreement that juries in state criminal trials must be unanimous to convict a defendant.
The justices took up a quirk of constitutional law, a 47-year-old ruling that requires unanimity in federal, but not state trials. Earlier in the day, the court also wrestled with whether states must allow criminal defendants to plead insanity.
The one minor surprise when the justices took the bench just after 10 o’clock was the absence of Justice Clarence Thomas. The 71-year-old Thomas was at home, likely with the flu, the court said.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in her customary seat to the left of Chief Justice John Roberts. The 86-year-old Ginsburg asked the first question in the insanity arguments.
Ginsburg was treated this summer for a tumor on her pancreas.

Court Begins Second Term with Two Trump Appointees

Meeting for the first time in public since late June, the court opened a term that could reveal how far to the right and how fast the court’s conservative majority will move, even as Roberts has made clear he wants to keep the court clear of Washington partisan politics. The court is beginning its second term with both of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, on board.
The justices could be asked to intervene in disputes between congressional Democrats and the White House that might also involve the possible impeachment of the Republican president .
Roberts would preside over a Senate trial of Trump if the House were to impeach him.

Biggest Decisions Expected in June

Its biggest decisions, in cases involving abortion, protections for young immigrants and LGBT rights, are likely to be handed down in late June, four months before the election.
Those cases probably will highlight the divisions on a court made up of five conservatives appointed by Republican presidents and four liberals named by Democrats.
But on Monday, conservative and liberal justices appeared to agree that the same rules should apply in federal and state trials. They heard arguments in an appeal by a Louisiana man who is serving a life term for killing a woman after a jury voted 10-2 to convict him. Oregon is the only other state that allows for non-unanimous convictions for some crimes.
Louisiana voters have changed the law for crimes committed beginning this year.

First Up: Cases on Rights of Accused

The court has formally held that most of the Bill of Rights applies to states as well as the federal government, but it has not done so on the Sixth Amendment’s unanimous jury requirement.
“What about the constitutional rights of people in prison?” Gorsuch asked Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill, who argued that the state’s court system could be inundated with claims if the justices rule against Louisiana.
A decision for defendant Evangelisto Ramos would result in his conviction being overturned and also would affect defendants who are still appealing their convictions. But the court is not expected to say anything about defendants whose cases are final. It would take another round of lawsuits to figure that out.
The case about an insanity defense comes from Kansas, where James Kraig Kahler was sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife, two teenage daughters and his wife’s grandmother.
Kahler wanted to mount an insanity defense, but Kansas is one of four states that eliminated a defendant’s ability to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. Idaho, Montana and Utah are the others. Alaska also limits the insanity defense.
It was unclear how the case would come out. Justice Elena Kagan suggested that even if Kahler were to win at the Supreme Court and could plead insanity, he ultimately would not get a reprieve from his conviction. In no state, she said, “would your client be found insane.”

DON'T MISS

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

DON'T MISS

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

DON'T MISS

Chinese Leader Xi Issues a Positive Message to US Business Leaders as Ties Improve

DON'T MISS

Cargo Ship Lost Power, Issued Mayday Before Hitting Baltimore’s Bridge

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Social Media Company Soars Nearly 50% in Its First Day of Trading on Nasdaq

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Appears Likely to Preserve Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone

DON'T MISS

Court Agrees to Pause Trump’s Civil Fraud Judgment if He Puts up $175M

No data was found

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

13 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

17 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

18 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

18 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

19 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

19 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

19 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

20 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

20 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

20 hours ago

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

The federal government will provide a $1.5 billion loan to restart a nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan, officials announced Wedne...

44 mins ago

44 mins ago

Biden Administration to Lend $1.5B to Restart Michigan Nuclear Power Plant, a First in the US

59 mins ago

Tonight’s Biden Fundraiser With Obama and Clinton Already Nets a Record $25 Million

Animals /
5 hours ago

Supermom Carmi Is Ready to Be Embraced by Her Forever Family

13 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
17 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

18 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

18 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

19 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend