Two really interesting posts over at SCOTUSblog the past couple of days.
The first post has to do with the Troy Davis actual innocence case. According to this Davis's attorneys have filed two separate actions with the Supreme Court asking the Court to accept review of the case. The two actions raise many novel questions, including whether the Circuit Court had the authority to review the district court's decision (which represents the sole issue raised in one of the actions) and the really important question of what's the standard in a free-standing actual innocence claim. Interestingly, it does not appear that Davis is asking the Court to consider whether the free-standing claim actually exists. The questions presented all seem to take for granted that it does exist. That's a big leap forward. Is it justified? Of course, I would say yes, but I am guessing some of the judges would disagree with that.
The second post has to do with some current relists. According to the post, the Court has relisted two cases that directly raises the issue of whether the Court should overule the "prior conviction" exception to the Apprendi rule. Based on the number of relists, it is most likely that a judge is writing a dissent from the denial of certiorari. The other plausible speculation is that three judges are campaigning a fourth (mostly likely Kagan) to agree to grant cert. This could be a big, big deal.
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