Koons v. United States

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Koons v. United States

Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices to examine rejection of contracts in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Argument preview: Justices to consider ability of government to challenge patents in administrative process – Ronald Mann

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Conference of February 15, 2019

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Orders

RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)

Opinions

Conference

Orders

MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)

MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
17-5716	8th Cir.	Mar 27, 2018 Tr.Aud.	Jun 4, 2018	9-0	Alito	OT 2017

Holding: Petitioners do not qualify for sentence reductions under 18 U. S. C. §3582(c)(2) because their sentences were not “based on” their lowered Federal Sentencing Guidelines ranges but, instead, were “based on” their mandatory minimums and their substantial assistance to the government.

Judgment: Affirmed, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Alito on June 4, 2018.

OT2017 #28: "Stale Cake" (First Mondays)
Opinion analysis: Justices discard game effort to extend eligibility for sentence reduction (Douglas Berman)
A "view" from the courtroom: Justice Kennedy’s Master-pièce de résistance (Mark Walsh)
Argument analysis: For sentence modification, what will “based on” be based on? (Douglas Berman)
Argument preview: Another look at what a sentence is “based on” (Douglas Berman)
Justices release March calendar (Amy Howe)
Court adds seven new cases to merits docket (Amy Howe)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Aug 22 2017	Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due September 25, 2017)
Sep 21 2017	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including October 25, 2017.
Oct 25 2017	Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
Nov 09 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/1/2017.
Dec 04 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/8/2017.
Dec 08 2017	Motion to proceed in forma pauperis and petition for a writ of certiorari GRANTED.
Dec 18 2017	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioners Timothy D. Koons, et al.
Dec 27 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/12/2018.
Jan 16 2018	Motion to appoint counsel filed by petitioners GRANTED, and Jeffrey L. Fisher, Esquire, of Stanford, California, is appointed to serve as counsel for the petitioners in this case.
Jan 17 2018	Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Timothy D. Koons, et al.
Jan 22 2018	Brief of petitioners Timothy D. Koons, et al. filed.
Jan 22 2018	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of cost filed.)
Jan 22 2018	Motion for leave to file a supplemental volume of the joint appendix under seal filed by petitioner Timothy D. Koons, et al.
Jan 24 2018	SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Jan 29 2018	Brief amicus curiae of Families Against Mandatory Minimums filed.
Jan 29 2018	Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers filed.
Jan 29 2018	Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Federal Defenders filed.
Jan 31 2018	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/16/2018.
Feb 07 2018	CIRCULATED
Feb 20 2018	Motion for leave to file a supplemental volume of the joint appendix under seal GRANTED.
Feb 21 2018	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 8th Circuit.
Feb 21 2018	Brief of respondent United States filed. (Distributed)
Mar 13 2018	Reply of petitioners Timothy D. Koons, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Mar 27 2018	Argued. For petitioners: Jeffrey L. Fisher, Stanford, Cal. (Appointed by this Court.) For respondent: Eric J. Feigin, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Jun 04 2018	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Jul 06 2018	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

Featured Posts

Court will review census citizenship dispute this term – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices to examine rejection of contracts in bankruptcy – Ronald Mann

Argument preview: Justices to consider ability of government to challenge patents in administrative process – Ronald Mann
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This Week at the Court
On Friday, the justices met for their February 15 conference and agreed to hear oral argument in Department of Commerce v. New York during the second week of the April sitting.
The calendar for the February sitting, which will begin on Tuesday, February 19, is available on the Supreme Court's website.
Major Cases
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, New York
  Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause and the constitutional right to travel.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. The sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential may place the invention “on sale” for purposes of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which bars a person from receiving a patent on an invention that was “in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention,” 35 U. S. C. §102(a)(1).
- New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira A court should determine whether the Federal Arbitration Act’s Section 1 exclusion for disputes involving the “contracts of employment” of certain transportation workers applies before ordering arbitration; here, truck driver Dominic Oliveira’s independent contractor operating agreement with New Prime Inc. falls within that exception.
- Stokeling v. United States The Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcome the victim’s resistance.
- Culbertson v. Berryhill The Social Security Act’s fee cap of 25 percent of past-due benefits imposed on attorneys who successfully represent Title II benefit claimants in court proceedings applies only to fees for court representation and not to aggregate fees for both court and agency representation.
- Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer and White Sales Inc. The “wholly groundless” exception to the general rule that courts must enforce contracts that delegate threshold arbitrability questions to an arbitrator, not a court, is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act and Supreme Court precedent.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Baxter v. United States (1) Whether a conviction for robbery under Florida law qualifies as a “violent felony” within the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause simply because it requires overcoming victim resistance, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has held, or whether such a conviction fails to qualify as an ACCA “violent felony” because Florida caselaw confirms that overcoming victim resistance does not invariably requires the use of “violent force” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has held; and (2) whether a conviction for any state robbery offense that includes “as an element” the common law requirement of overcoming “victim resistance” is categorically a “violent felony” within the ACCA’s elements clause if the offense has been specifically interpreted by state appellate courts to require only slight force to overcome resistance.
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
More Petitions »
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Cases argued 43

Cases decided 10

Summary reversals 2

Merits cases granted to date 73

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Chief Justice Roberts at Belmont University

On February 6, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at Belmont University College of Law with Alberto Gonzales, dean of the law school and former U.S. attorney general.

Peabody Award
Awarded the Peabody Award for excellence in electronic media.
Sigma Delta Chi
Awarded the Sigma Delta Chi deadline reporting award for online coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
National Press Club Award
Awarded the National Press Club's Breaking News Award for coverage of the Affordable Care Act decision.
Silver Gavel Award
Awarded the Silver Gavel Award by the American Bar Association for fostering the American public’s understanding of the law and the legal system.
American Gavel Award
Awarded the American Gavel Award for Distinguished Reporting About the Judiciary to recognize the highest standards of reporting about courts and the justice system.
Webby Award
Awarded the Webby Award for excellence on the internet.

15
Conference

19
Orders
RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

20
MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)
Opinions

22
Conference

25
Orders
MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

26
UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)
MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)

27
THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)

Cases argued	43
Cases decided	10
Summary reversals	2
Merits cases granted to date	73