The Good, the Bad, and the Burger Court: Victims' Rights and a New Model of Criminal Review, 75 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 363 (1984) (original) (raw)

On the final day of the 1982 Term, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Michigan v. Long.' Although primarily a fourth amendment decision, 2 Long's true significance lies in its establishment of a new test for determining when a state decision rests on independent and adequate state grounds, thus precluding federal review. The Court held that when such a decision either appears to rest on or be "interwoven" with federal law, and when the independence or adequacy of a state ground is not clear from the opinion, the Court will presume that the federal grounds were primarily relied upon. 3 This new test undoubtedly will increase the number of prosecution appeals from state court criminal decisions that the Supreme Court will review. Consequently, it is important to ask why this Court, which has continually bemoaned its swollen docket, 4 would voluntarily seek to expand the number of cases available for its review. The most intriguing portion of the Long case was the dissent filed by Justice Stevens.? Repeating a theme he had sounded in previous opin

The Good, the Bad, and the Burger Court: Victims' Rights and a New Model of Criminal Review

The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 1984

On the final day of the 1982 Term, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Michigan v. Long.' Although primarily a fourth amendment decision, 2 Long's true significance lies in its establishment of a new test for determining when a state decision rests on independent and adequate state grounds, thus precluding federal review. The Court held that when such a decision either appears to rest on or be "interwoven" with federal law, and when the independence or adequacy of a state ground is not clear from the opinion, the Court will presume that the federal grounds were primarily relied upon. 3 This new test undoubtedly will increase the number of prosecution appeals from state court criminal decisions that the Supreme Court will review. Consequently, it is important to ask why this Court, which has continually bemoaned its swollen docket, 4 would voluntarily seek to expand the number of cases available for its review. The most intriguing portion of the Long case was the dissent filed by Justice Stevens.? Repeating a theme he had sounded in previous opin

ISSUES AND OUTCOMES IN STATE SUPREME COURT JUDICIAL REVIEW CASES

Southeastern Political Review, 2008

This paper examines the types of laws challenged and overturned in the supreme courts of all 50 states from 1981 through 1985. Major findings are that criminal statutes are challenged more frequently but overturned less often than other types of statues. Challenges to laws regulating economic activity account for just under a quarter of our cases and these laws are overturned over 20 percent of the time. Private cases, which make up about 14 percent of the data set result in invalidation about a fifth of the time. While there are fewer civil liberties and governmental cases, these cases result in laws being declared unconstitutional more frequently, over one-third of the time. More specifically, death penalty laws are overturned in less than three percent of the cases in which they are challenged. On the other hand, cases involving statutes alleged to unconstitutionally discriminate and those regulating local government result in invalidation over half the time.

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