Archive for June, 2004

ASHCROFT, ATT’Y GEN. v. ACLU, ET AL.. Decided 06/29/2004

Monday, June 28th, 2004
Whether the Child Online Protection Act violates the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

SOSA, JOSE F. v. ALVAREZ-MACHAIN, H., ET AL.. Decided 06/29/2004

Monday, June 28th, 2004
(1) Whether the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. 1350 creates a private cause of action for aliens for torts committed anywhere in violation of the law of nations or treaties of the United States or, instead, is a jurisdiction-granting provision that does not establish private rights of action? (2) Whether, to the extent that the Alien Tort Statute is not merely jurisdictional in nature, the challenged arrest in this case is actionable under the act? (3) Whether federal law enforcement officers, and agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration in particular, have authority to enforce a federal criminal statute that applies to acts perpetrated against a United States official in a foreign country by arresting an indicted criminal suspect on probable cause in a foreign country? (4) Whether an individual arrested in a foreign country may bring an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. 1346(b), 2671 et seq., for false arrest, notwithstanding the FTCA's exclusion of "[a]ny claim arising in a foreign country," 28 U.S.C. 2680(k), because the arrest was planned in the United States?

RUMSFELD, SEC. OF DEFENSE v. PADILLA, JOSE, ET AL.. Decided 06/28/2004

Sunday, June 27th, 2004
(1) Whether the President has authority as Commander in Chief and in light of Congress's Authorization for Use of Military Force, Pub. L. No. 107-40, 115 Stat. 224, to seize and detain a United States citizen in the United States based on a determination by the President that he is an enemy combatant who is closely associated with al Qaeda and has engaged in hostile and war-like acts, or whether 18 U.S.C. 4001(a) precludes that exercise of Presidential authority? (2) Whether the district court has jurisdiction over the proper respondent to the amended habeas petition?

RASUL, SHAFIQ, ET AL. v. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF U.S., ET AL.. Decided 06/28/2004

Sunday, June 27th, 2004
Whether United States courts lack jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba?

HAMDI, YASER E. ET AL. v. RUMSFELD, SEC. OF DEFENSE. Decided 06/28/2004

Sunday, June 27th, 2004
Did the court of appeals erred in holding that the U.S. has established the legality of the military's detention of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a presumed American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan during the combat operations in late 2001, and was determined by the military to be an enemy combatant who should be detained in connection with the ongoing hostilities in Afghanistan?

MISSOURI v. SEIBERT, PATRICE. Decided 06/28/2004

Sunday, June 27th, 2004
Is the rule that a suspect who has once responded to unwarned yet uncoercive questioning is not thereby disabled form waiving his rights and confessing after he has been given the requisite Miranda warnings, Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 318 (1985), abrogated when the initial failure to give the Miranda warnings was intentional?

UNITED STATES v. PATANE, SAMUEL F.. Decided 06/28/2004

Sunday, June 27th, 2004
Does the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine apply to physical-evidence fruit of a Miranda violation?

TENNARD, ROBERT J. v. DRETKE, DIR., TX DCJ. Decided 06/24/2004

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004

SCHRIRO, DIR., AZ DOC v. SUMMERLIN, WARREN W.. Decided 06/24/2004

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004
1) Did the 9th Circuit err by holding that the new rule announced in Ring v. Arizona is substantive, rather than procedural, and therefore exempt from the retroactivity analysis of Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989)? (2) Did the 9th Circuit err by holding that the new rule announced in Ring applies retroactively to cases on collateral review under Teague's exception for watershed rules of criminal procedure that alter bedrock procedural principles and seriously enhance the accuracy of the proceedings?

BLAKELY, RALPH H. v. WASHINGTON. Decided 06/24/2004

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004
Whether a fact (other than a prior conviction) necessary for an upward departure from a statutory standard sentencing range must be proved according to the procedures mandated by Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).