Koons v. United States

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Koons v. United States

Opinion analysis: Justices allow "peace cross" to stand – Amy Howe

Relist Watch – John Elwood

Monday at the Supreme Court: Four opinions and a GVR – SCOTUStalk

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Conference of June 20, 2019

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.

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Opinion analysis: Justices allow "peace cross" to stand – Amy Howe

Relist Watch – John Elwood

Monday at the Supreme Court: Four opinions and a GVR – SCOTUStalk
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This Week at the Court
The Supreme Court released orders from the June 13 conference on Monday; the justices granted, vacated and remanded Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
Also on Monday, the justices released their opinions in four argued cases: Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, Virginia Uranium Inc. v. Warren, Gamble v. United States and Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill.
On Thursday, the justices released their opinions in four argued cases: Gundy v. United States, McDonough v. Smith, The American Legion v. American Humanist Association and PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc.
Also on Thursday, the justices met for their June 20 conference; John Elwood's "Relist Watch" compiles the petitions that were relisted for this conference.
On Friday, the Supreme Court will release opinions in one or more argued cases at 10 a.m.
Major Cases
- Department of Commerce v. New York
  (1) Whether the district court erred in enjoining the secretary of the Department of Commerce from reinstating a question about citizenship to the 2020 decennial census on the ground that the secretary’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 701 et seq; (2) whether, in an action seeking to set aside agency action under the APA, a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker -- including by compelling the testimony of high-ranking executive branch officials -- without a strong showing that the decisionmaker disbelieved the objective reasons in the administrative record, irreversibly prejudged the issue, or acted on a legally forbidden basis; and (3) whether the secretary’s decision to add a citizenship question to the decennial census violated the enumeration clause of the U.S. Constitution.
- 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.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  The Bladensburg Cross does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  The dual-sovereignty doctrine – under which two offenses are not the “same offence” for double jeopardy purposes if prosecuted by separate sovereigns – is upheld.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Gundy v. United States TThe judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that 34 U. S. C. §20913(d) – which requires the U.S. attorney general to apply the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act’s registration requirements as soon as feasible to offenders convicted before the statute’s enactment – is not an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority is affirmed.
- McDonough v. Smith The statute of limitations for Edward McDonough’s 42 U. S. C. §1983 fabricated-evidence claim against his prosecutor began to run when the criminal proceedings against him terminated in his favor – that is, when he was acquitted at the end of his second trial.
- PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc. The extent to which a 2006 Federal Communications Commission order interpreting the term “unsolicited advertisement” binds lower courts may depend on the resolution of two preliminary questions that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit should address in the first instance: (1) whether the order is the equivalent of a legislative rule, which has the force and effect of law, or an interpretative rule, which does not; and (2) whether PDR Network, LLC had a “prior” and “adequate” opportunity to seek judicial review of the order.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association The Bladensburg Cross does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States The dual-sovereignty doctrine – under which two offenses are not the “same offence” for double jeopardy purposes if prosecuted by separate sovereigns – is upheld.
- Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck Manhattan Community Access Corp., a private nonprofit corporation designated by New York City to operate the public access channels on the Manhattan cable system owned by Time Warner (now Charter), is not a state actor subject to the First Amendment.
- Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill The House of Delegates lacks standing to appeal the invalidation of Virginia’s redistricting plan.
- Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit’s judgment that the Atomic Energy Act does not preempt Virginia’s prohibition on uranium mining in the commonwealth is affirmed.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Atlanta Gas Light Co. v. Bennett Regulator Guards Inc. (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred in concluding that it had jurisdiction to review the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute inter partes review of respondent’s patent over respondent’s objection that it was time-barred; and (2) whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred when it rejected the longstanding principle that a dismissal without prejudice leaves the parties as if a suit had never been brought, splitting the circuits.
- Banister v. Davis (1) Whether Gonzalez v. Crosby extends to post-judgment motions filed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e); (2) whether, if Gonzalez does apply, a timely filed Rule 59(e) motion should toll the time to file a notice of appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(4)(A)(iv); and (3) whether a pro se petitioner must be warned and given an opportunity to withdraw a post-judgment motion which has be recharacterized as a successive habeas petition if that recharacterization will effect his ability to file a timely notice of appeal.
- Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (1) Whether the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy is judicially reviewable; and (2) whether DHS’s decision to wind down the DACA policy is lawful.
More Petitions »
Recent Special Features
Statistical Snapshot

Cases argued 69

Cases decided 53

Summary reversals 5

Merits cases granted to date 74

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Justice Thomas at the Supreme Court Historical Society

On June 3, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke with David Rubenstein for the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual lecture at the Supreme Court.

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Cases argued	69
Cases decided	53
Summary reversals	5
Merits cases granted to date	74

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