U.S. Supreme Court Petitions to watch

There are some interesting Petitions for Certiorari the U.S. Supreme Court is considering this fall. At their September 29th conference, the Justices will determine which petitions involve issues that are compelling enough to move to the briefing stage—commonly referred to as the Court granting “cert.” Each year, the 7,000 petitions are filed with the Court, 100 of which cert is granted.

The following are some cases that have a good chance of being heard by the Court and can have far reaching implications to Irving criminal defendants. Issues raised in petitions that caught my attention include: the validity of the “automatic companion” rule under the Fourth Amendment (Owens v. Kentucky), whether state criminal convictions require jury unanimity (Lee v. Louisiana), and whether probable cause for a warrantless search for drugs exists when police observe two men exchanging money for a small, yet unknown object (Pennsylvania v. Dunlap).


Questions about this post can be directed to Irving Criminal Defense Attorney William Weinberg at 949.474.8008.