Petitions of the week
on Jun 19, 2019 at 11:42 am
This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address the constitutionality of denying retroactive application of the Hurst decisions based on an arbitrary cut-off point and other arbitrary factors, and whether a state agency’s policy of refusing to accept advertisements that promote or oppose religion violates the First Amendment or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The petitions of the week are:
Issue: Whether the Florida Supreme Court’s decision denying retroactive application of the Hurst decisions to the petitioner violates the Eighth and 14th Amendments because it uses an arbitrary cut-off point and other arbitrary factors—such as the timing of judicial decisions—to determine whether similarly situated death row prisoners will receive retroactive application of constitutional rights.
Issues: (1) Whether the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority’s policy of refusing to accept advertisements that promote or oppose religion or reflect a religious perspective violates the First Amendment; and (2) whether that discrimination against religious speech violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
