Supreme Court rulings & orders for (5/29/18)

Politics
1

Nothing of significance on the order list today.

First opinion:

Collins v Virginia by Sotomayor, with a Thomas concurrence and an Alito dissent.

Held: The automobile exception does not permit the warrantless entry
of a home or its curtilage in order to search a vehicle therein.

This was a fourth amendment case, officers may not enter private property to search a vehicle without a warrant.

Lagos v United States by Breyer for a unanimous court.

This appears to limit the scope of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act to government hearings and proceedings.

City of Hays, Kansas v Vogt has been dismissed as improvidently granted. No explanation given.

Pretty light day today, given the number of cases still pending.

2

Here is a better summary of Lagos.

In a provision of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 that requires certain convicted defendants to “reimburse the victim for . . . expenses incurred during participation in the investigation or prosecution of the offense or attendance at proceedings related to the offense,” 18 U. S. C. §3663A(b)(4), the words “investigation” and “proceedings” are limited to government investigations and criminal proceedings and do not include private investigations and civil or bankruptcy proceedings.

4

I just want to say, I’ve been lurking on the Hannity boards a long time before I finally registered, and Safiel, your judicial analysis threads have always been fantastic. On behalf of the other lurkers out there, thank you for your dedication!

1 Like
5

Was this the rental car case?

6

No, in fact the vehicle at question was a motorcycle.

7

Okay different one then.

8

WTH? This case was all over a stupid freaking knife? How the heck does possession of a knife constitute a felony? The only two circumstances I know of are knifes with blades longer than 4 inches and switchblades, neither of which would have been issued by his former employer. So best I can tell is this was a piece of evidence that he chose to keep as a souvenier.

Can you shed some more light in this Saf? I know that wasn’t the point of the case, but this seems pretty stupid.

9

As far as I can tell, he must have broken a local statute on knifes. Kansas state statutes are actually pretty lenient, allowing possession of most knives except for ballistic knives and throwing stars.

10

Well I’ve lived here my whole life, and I guess I really never got into the knife scene, although I did catch a few late night infomercials where they sell you like 15 knifes all at one time lol.

11

Kansas passed a major knife rights bill in 2013 that removed all former prohibitions on knives in Kansas. Ironically, the respondent was arrested for the knife in question not long before passage of that bill, just a few months earlier in 2013.

So what he was arrested for is no longer a crime in Kansas.

12

I have been to and from Kansas many times, but always on business.

13

What Kansas has is a lot of neat small town attractions you can go and see, not unlike most other states. It’s relatively flat, the winters are cold as a penguins ass and the summers are hotter than the surface of mercury. As as an added bonus we often get the extremes within 12-18 hours of each other.

I’m not lying when I tell you just this past spring it was snowing one night and by the next afternoon it was 85.
One day in about 7 years when my daughter graduates I’m getting the heck out of here.