Criminal Justice Decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, 2009 Term

• Author: Cody Stoddard,Valerie Bell,Craig Hemmens
• Published date: 01 December 2010
• Date: 01 December 2010
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016810388389
• Subject Matter: Articles

Recent Legal Developments

Criminal Justice Decisions

of the U.S. Supreme

Court, 2009 Term

Craig Hemmens

1

, Valerie Bell

2

, and Cody Stoddard

3

Abstract

During its 2009 term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 26 cases dealing with a criminal justice–

related issue. While a number of these decisions will have only a slight impact on the daily

administration of justice, there were several significant cases involving criminal justice–related

topics such as search and seizure, interrogations, and sentencing. We present in this article a

summary and analysis of the most significant decisions involving criminal justice.

Keywords

Supreme Court, legal, courts, criminal procedure

During its 2009 term,the U.S. Supreme Court decided 86 cases on the meritsand issued 72 signed

opinions. In all, 26 cases at least touched upon a criminal justice–related issue. While a number of

these decisionswill have only a slight impact on the daily administration of justice, therewere several

significant cases involving criminal justice–related topics such as search and seizure, interrogations,

and sentencing.

In all, 40%(40 of 86) of the Court’s decisions were unanimous, while another 21 (24%) cases

were decided by at least a 7-2 vote. A total of 16 (19%) cases were decided by a narrow 5-4 margin.

This is a significant decrease over the 2008 term, in which almost 30%of the cases were decided by

a 5-4 vote. Justice Kennedy remains a crucial swing vote on the court, but his influence was a bit less

obvious this term. In the 2006 term, Justice Kennedy was in the majority in 100%(24 of 24) of the

cases decided by a 5-4 margin. In the 2007 and 2008 terms, he was in the majority in more than 75%

of such cases. In the 2009 term, Justice Kennedy was in the majority in 11 of 16 cases decided by a

5-4 vote (69%), but he was matched by Justices Scalia and Thomas, while Justice Alito was in the

majority 10 times and Chief Justice Roberts was in the majority 9 times. Together, these five justices

comprise the ‘‘conservative’’ wing of the Court. Justice Ginsburg, by contrast, was in the majority in

only 4 (25%) of 16 cases decided by a 5-4 vote.

1

Boise State University, Boise, ID, USA

2

Loras College, Dubuque, IA, USA

3

Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Craig Hemmens, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725, USA

Email: chemmens@boisestate.edu

Criminal Justice Review

35(4) 550-562

ª2010 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016810388389

http://cjr.sagepub.com