October 16, 2026 Commentary on Recent Cases of Interest

Issue #1: The Supreme Court refused to address the order suppressing the identification by Black. Issue #2: Taking Vanpelt’s gun was perfectly OK because the officers believed Vanpelt might become violent after being woken up from a drunken stupor. Issue #3: The Court did not review Judge Cure’s decision that the Miranda advisement was inadequate. Issue #4: Vanpelt’s statements were not constitutionally involuntary.

SCOTUS denied cert but Justices Sotomayor and Gorsuch wrote a mini-opinion pointing out the Double Jeopardy problem associated with the government prosecuting a person multiple times for being present continuously in the U.S. following removal.

Erlinger announced a “new” rule of constitutional law and, therefore, does not apply on collateral review.

In a § 1152 prosecution where the victim is an Indian, the defendant’s Indian status is an affirmative defense and not a jurisdictional element. Therefore, the defendant has the burden of production and persuasion to establish their Indian status.