Federal Judiciary

Petitions to Watch | Conference of 3.26.10

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

This edition of ?Petitions to Watch? features cases up for consideration at the Justices? next private conference on this Friday, March 26. As always, it lists the petitions on the Court?s paid docket that Tom has deemed to have a reasonable chance of being granted. Links to all previous editions are available in our SCOTUSwiki archive.

Title: Jensen v. Stoot
Docket: 09-728
Issue: Whether the phrase “criminal case” in the Fifth Amendment–which prohibits the use of involuntary confessions in any such case–means the entire criminal process beginning with the filing of charges or instead the actual criminal trial.

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of the City of Escondido

Title: Cate v. Ali
Docket: 09-894
Issue: On federal habeas review, did the Ninth Circuit comply with the deferential standard of review required by 28 U.S.C. § 2254 when it disregarded the trial court?s factual finding that the prosecutor?s reasons for exercising peremptory challenges were genuine, in favor of its own de novo comparative juror analysis?

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply

If any petitions from previous editions of Petitions to Watch are re-distributed for this conference, we will list them here.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 24, 2010 (boomark / email).