Today, I wanted to note two timely and interesting items concerning the United States Supreme Court.
First, the Court just granted certiorari in Chaidez v. United States, a case that presents the issue of whether Padilla v. Kentucky applies retroactively. Padilla, of course, is the case that requires criminal defense attorneys, in some circumstances, to counsel their clients about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. SCTOUSblog covers the basics of Chaidez here. Remember that the North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that Padilla is not retroactive, as discussed here, and that the issue is the subject of a split of authority nationally, as discussed here.
Second, remember Kentucky v. King, the case that essentially demolished the so-called officer-created exigency doctrine? (If you don’t, check out this prior post.) As I noted at the time, the Court did not determine whether the facts of King actually amounted to exigent circumstances — it merely held that the officers did not improperly create any exigency. The case was remanded to the Supreme Court of Kentucky, which reached the more fundamental question and ruled that the circumstances weren’t exigent. More details here at the Volokh Conspiracy.
