Opinion Summaries: U.S. Supreme Court May 19, 2008
From: Findlaw Opinion Summaries May 19, 2008.
COMMERCIAL LAW, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, TAX LAW
Dep't of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis, No. 06-666
"In the context of states/subdivisions' exemption of interest on their own bonds from their state income taxes, which are imposed on bond interest from other states, the Court rules that Kentucky's version of such a differential tax scheme does not offend the Commerce Clause"
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE
"A statute criminalizing, in certain specified circumstances, the pandering or solicitation of child pornography is neither overbroad under the First Amendment nor impermissibly vague under the Due Process Clause. The Court rejects concerns that virtual child pornography or sex between youthful-looking adult actors might be covered by the term 'simulated sexual intercourse.' "
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE
"A circuit court's decision setting aside defendant's conviction on a count of carrying an explosive "during the commission of" a felony is reversed where, under a natural reading of 18 U.S.C. section 844(h)(2), since defendant was carrying explosives when he feloniously made a false statement to a customs official, he was carrying them 'during' the commission of that felony. Contrary to the court of appeals' ruling, there is no requirement of a relationship between possession of the item in question and the underlying felony".
CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, SENTENCING
"A sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is reversed where, for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), the 'maximum term of imprisonment . . . prescribed by law' for the state drug convictions at issue was a 10-year maximum set by the applicable state recidivist provision. The Ninth Circuit erred in holding that 'the maximum term of imprisonment ... prescribed by law' must be determined without taking recidivist enhancements into account."
