We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
TODAY IS THE MONDAY BEFORE THE MONDAY
Everyone knows that the Supreme Court begins its work year on the first Monday in October. But a convincing case can be made that it begins a week before.
Today, the last Monday in September, the Court will hold its annual “long conference,” the first meeting of the nine Justices to consider the pile of petitions seeking review that have accumulated over the three-month summer recess.
Statistically, the likelihood that such a petition for certiorari will be granted is slight, about 1.2 pct for those filed by lawyers and 0.8 pct for those filed pro se. The odds are usually worse for those considered in the long conference. The Court itself admitted two years ago that 97 pct of the petitions are rejected “without joint discussion by the Justices.”
Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman, writing in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog, looks forward to the coming term even as he’s disappointed with the Court’s output. He notes that “11 of the 25 cases already granted for review are, by my calculation, criminal law and related… They won’t all be headline-grabbers, but 40% of the court’s docket is a very healthy chunk. And the court will surely grant some more after its Sept. 28 ‘long conference…’ [T]he Supreme Court used to decide as many as 150 cases per term. But during the 2025-26 term the justices heard argument after full briefing in only 58. According to a Federalist Society report… in 2012 Chief Justice John Roberts said that the court could hear ‘100 cases without any stress or strain, but the cases just aren’t there,’ and he ‘emphasized that circuit splits are far and away the most important consideration.’ The capacity of the justices to handle more cases is not an issue – more grants of review to provide national uniformity in criminal cases ought to be a priority.”
Sentencing Law and Policy, Gearing up for another (notable?) SCOTUS term for sentencing fans (September 15, 2026)
Pacific Legal Foundation, A Supreme Court preview: PLF cases at the long conference (September 25, 2026)
~ Thomas L. Root