Lockhart v. United States

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Lockhart v. United States

Opinion analysis: Divided court throws out additional jail time for sex offender – Amy Howe

Challengers urge justices not to decide racial-discrimination claim in census case – Amy Howe

Relist Watch – John Elwood

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Conference of June 27, 2019

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
14-8358	2d Cir.	Nov 3, 2015 Tr.Aud.	Mar 1, 2016	6-2	Sotomayor	OT 2015

Holding: A state-court conviction for first-degree sexual abuse involving the defendant’s adult girlfriend triggers the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(b)(2), which applies to prior state-court convictions for crimes “relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward”; the limiting phrase “involving a minor or ward” applies only to the phrase “abusive sexual conduct.”

Judgment: Affirmed, 6-2, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor on March 1, 2016. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Breyer joined.

Opinion analysis: Battle of statutory interpretation canons ends in defeat for convicted sex offender (Evan Lee)
Argument analysis: Court appears fractured in child pornography mandatory minimum case (Evan Lee)
Argument preview: "Series qualifier" and "last antecedent" canons battle over statutory interpretation (Evan Lee)
Criminal law grants for the October Term 2015 (Rory Little)
Major test on voter equality set for review (Lyle Denniston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Jan 14 2015	Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due March 11, 2015)
Mar 3 2015	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including April 10, 2015.
Apr 10 2015	Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed.
Apr 28 2015	Reply of petitioner Avondale Lockhart filed. (Distributed)
Apr 29 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 14, 2015.
May 18 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of May 21, 2015.
May 26 2015	Motion to proceed in forma pauperis and petition for a writ of certiorari GRANTED.
Jun 23 2015	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 24, 2015.
Jun 23 2015	The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including September 8, 2015.
Jul 24 2015	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs received.)
Jul 24 2015	Brief of petitioner Avondale Lockhart filed.
Sep 8 2015	Brief of respondent United States filed.
Sep 9 2015	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sep 10 2015	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit.
Sep 11 2015	Record request received from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit is electronic.
Sep 21 2015	CIRCULATED
Oct 8 2015	Reply of petitioner Avondale Lockhart filed. (Distributed)
Nov 3 2015	Argued. For petitioner: Edward S. Zas, Assistant Federal Defender, New York, N. Y. For respondent: Ann O'Connell, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Mar 1 2016	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, and Alito, JJ., joined. Kagan, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Breyer, J., joined.
Apr 4 2016	JUDGMENT ISSUED

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Opinion analysis: Divided court throws out additional jail time for sex offender – Amy Howe

Challengers urge justices not to decide racial-discrimination claim in census case – Amy Howe

Relist Watch – John Elwood
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This Week at the Court
On Monday, the Supreme Court released orders from the June 20 conference; the justices granted eight new cases, for a total of five hours of oral argument next term: Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, Ovalles v. Barr, Dex Media Inc. v. Click-To-Call Technologies, LP, Maine Community Health Options v. United States, Moda Health Plan Inc. v. United States, Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Co. v. United States, Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc. and Banister v. Davis.
Also on Monday, the justices released their opinions in four argued cases: United States v. Davis, Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, Iancu v. Brunetti and The Dutra Group v. Batterton.
On Wednesday, the justices released their opinions in three argued cases: United States v. Haymond, Kisor v. Wilkie, and Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court will release its final opinions for the term.
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
  Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co – under which deference is given to an agency’s reasonable reading of its own genuinely ambiguous regulations – are not overruled.
- 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
- Kisor v. Wilkie Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co – under which deference is given to an agency’s reasonable reading of its own genuinely ambiguous regulations – are not overruled.
- Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas Tennessee’s 2-year durational-residency requirement applicable to retail liquor store license applicants violates the commerce clause and is not saved by the 21st Amendment.
- United States v. Haymond The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit’s judgment – that 18 U. S. C. §3583(k)’s last two sentences are unconstitutional and unenforceable – is vacated, and the case is remanded.
- Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media Where commercial or financial information is both customarily and actually treated as private by its owner and provided to the government under an assurance of privacy, the information is “confidential” within the meaning of 5 U. S. C. §552(b)(4), the Freedom of Information Act’s Exemption 4.
- Iancu v. Brunetti The Lanham Act prohibition on the registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks infringes the First Amendment.
- The Dutra Group v. Batterton A plaintiff may not recover punitive damages on a maritime claim of unseaworthiness.
- United States v. Davis Title 18 U. S. C. §924(c)(3)(B), which provides enhanced penalties for using a firearm during a “crime of violence,” is unconstitutionally vague.
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.
- 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.
- Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue Whether it violates the religion clauses or the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution to invalidate a generally available and religiously neutral student-aid program simply because the program affords students the choice of attending religious schools.
More Petitions »
Recent Special Features
Statistical Snapshot

Cases argued 69

Cases decided 66

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	66
Summary reversals	5
Merits cases granted to date	74

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