This lengthy final order list finishing up the current SCOTUS Term includes lots of little items that will be of interest to sentencing fans, and one big item that could be really interesting for criminal law. That big item is a cert grant in Gamble v. United States, which presents only this question: "Whether the Court should overrule the 'separate sovereigns' exception to the Double Jeopardy Clause." Here is how the Gamble cert petition's introduction starts:
The Fifth Amendment enshrines a promise that “No person shall . . . be twice put in jeopardy” “for the same offence.” Yet Terance Martez Gamble has been subjected to exactly that: two convictions, and two sentences, for the single offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm. As a result of the duplicative conviction, he must spend three additional years of his life behind bars. The Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits that result.
The so-called dual-sovereignty doctrine has been around since the 1950s, but both Justices Ginsburg and Thomas have called for giving it another look in light of changed criminal justice realities. I am very excited SCOTUS is now taking up this issue and I will be the first (but surely not the last) to say I hope SCOTUS is willing to Gamble with abolishing the Double Jeopardy Clause's dual-sovereignty doctrine.
Comments
Post a Comment