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.”
S. Sotomayor
Hurst v. Florida, No. 14-7505, ___ U.S. ___ (Jan. 12, 2016).
Florida’s death-penalty statutory scheme, under which judge must find aggravating circumstance justifying death and jury’s sentencing recommendation of death or life without parole is only advisory, violates Sixth Amendment jury right.
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.
Heien v. North Carolina, No. 13-604, __ U.S. __ (Dec. 15, 2014).
An officer has the reasonable suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment for a traffic stop even if she is mistaken about the law she believes was violated, as long as her mistake of law is “objectively reasonable.”
Warger v. Shauers, No. 13–517, 574 U. S. ____ (2014).
Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) applies to juror testimony during a proceeding seeking to secure a new trial on the grounds that a juror lied during voir dire.