Tomorrow afternoon, the US Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Mathena v. Malvo, a case that calls upon the Justice to continue struggling with the application of the Eighth Amendment limits on LWOP sentences that was set out in Miller v. Alabama and given retroactive effect in Montgomery v. Louisiana. This SCOTUSblog page has links to all the briefing in this case and sets out this question presented as framed by the state of Virginia:
Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit erred in concluding — in direct conflict with Virginia’s highest court and other courts — that a decision of the Supreme Court, Montgomery v. Louisiana, addressing whether a new constitutional rule announced in an earlier decision, Miller v. Alabama, applies retroactively on collateral review may properly be interpreted as modifying and substantively expanding the very rule whose retroactivity was in question.
The intricacies of this question presented highlights that the Justice could approach the Malvo case as a small technical matter only about the proper application of prior settled decisions. But because the crimes of Lee Malvo were horrific and the rulings in Miller and Montgomery contentious, there are advocates who wonder and fear that certain Justices may be eager to use this case to cut back on the Court's recent Eighth Amendment jurisprudence.
I have seen a number of notable previews and commentary concerning the Malvo case, and here is a sampling:
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From Amy Howe at SCOTUSblog, "Argument preview: Justices to consider life-without-parole sentences for juveniles in D.C. sniper case"
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From Tom Jackman at the Washington Post, "Supreme Court to consider whether sniper Lee Boyd Malvo should be resentenced"
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From Andrew Cohen at the Brennan Center, "The Supreme Court Must Not Turn Back From Juvenile Sentencing Reform: The case of 'beltway sniper' Lee Boyd Malvo is poised to have a legal legacy far beyond his own."
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From Isa Farrington Nichols at Newsweek, "My Niece Was Murdered In The D.C. Sniper Shootings — but I Support Resentencing For The Teenager Who Killed Her"
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From Kent Scheidegger at Crime & consequences, "SCOTUS Hears D.C. Sniper, Jr. Case Tomorrow"
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From John Ellem at Bloomberg Law, "Listen to States on Child Sentencing, Bipartisan Legislators Tell High Court"
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By RJ Vogt at Law360, "DC Sniper Case Stokes Debate Over Juvenile Life Sentences"
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