Miller v. Alabama’s prohibition on mandatory life without parole for juvenile offenders announced a new substantive, not procedural, rule. Miller is therefore retroactive in cases of state collateral review.
A. Scalia
Kansas v. Carr, No. 14-449, ___ U.S. ___ (Jan. 20, 2016).
The Eighth Amendment does not require capital-sentencing courts to instruct a jury that mitigating circumstances need not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Joint capital-sentencing proceeding did not violate defendants’ Eighth Amendment right to an “individualized sentencing determination.”
Johnson v. United States, No. 13-7120, ___ U.S. ___ (June 26, 2015).
Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA)’s definition of “violent felony” is unconstitutionally vague as to its residual clause, which covers any felony that “involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another”; clause leaves uncertainty about how to estimate the risk posed by a crime or how much risk it takes for a crime to qualify as a violent felony. (Overruling James v. United States, 550 U.S. 192 (2007) and Sykes v. United States, 564 U.S. 1 (2011).)
Glossip v. Gross, No. 14–7955 , ___ U.S. ___ (June 29, 2015).
Use of the sedative midazolam for lethal injections does not violate the Eighth Amendment, despite claims that it cannot reliably render an inmate unconscious before administering the lethal drugs.
Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14–556, __ U.S. __ (June 28, 2015).
Same-sex couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry.