Petitions of the week
on Mar 14, 2019 at 4:04 pm
This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address, among other things, whether the time limit for seeking review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A) can be extended, the constitutional limitation on venue selection in a criminal trial, and whether a federal court must grant a motion for a judgment of acquittal when the evidence is in equipoise.
The petitions of the week are:
Issues: (1) Whether the 60-day period for seeking review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under 5 U.S.C. § 7703(b)(1)(A) sets a jurisdictional bar, as the panel majority held, or prescribes a claim-processing rule subject to exceptions such as forfeiture, as the dissenting judges below maintained; and (2) whether the government forfeited its timeliness defense.
Issues: (1) Whether a federal court must grant a motion for judgment of acquittal when, construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, evidence of guilt and innocence is evenly balanced; and (2) whether a conviction for mail or wire fraud must be vacated when it is based on claims for benefits under an ambiguous regulatory scheme and the defendant acted consistently with an objectively reasonable interpretation of that scheme.
Issues: (1) Whether the Constitution limits venue in criminal trials to those places where the defendant could reasonably foresee that an overt act would occur; and (2) whether 18 U.S.C. § 3237(a) limits venue in criminal trials involving continuing offenses to those places where the defendant could reasonably foresee that an overt act would occur.
