Under the Sixth Amendment Strickland standard for effective assistance of counsel, “constitutionally competent counsel would have advised [the defendant] that his conviction for drug distribution made him subject to automatic deportation.”
J. Stevens
Maryland v. Shatzer, No. 08–680, __ U.S. __ (Feb. 24, 2010)
Adopts a brightline rule that a fourteen-day break in Miranda custody ends the presumption of involuntariness established in Edwards v. Arizona for responses to police-initiated questioning after a subject has invoked the right to have Miranda counsel present during interrogation; a subject incarcerated for an unrelated crime is not in Miranda custody for purposes of this fourteen-day rule.
Arizona v. Gant, No. 07-542, __ U.S. __ (April 21, 2009)
Police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest.
Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249, ___ U.S. ___ (Mar. 4, 2009) (excerpts from syllabus)
Federal law does not pre-empt plaintiff’s claim that a drug label approved by the FDA did not contain an adequate warning about a particular method of administration.