Petitions of the week
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 agencys policy of refusing to accept advertisements that promote or oppose religion violates the First Amendment or the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Thepetitions of the week are:
Issue:Whether the Florida Supreme Courts decision denying retroactive application of theHurst decisions to the petitioner violates the Eighth and 14th Amendments because it uses an arbitrary cut-off point and other arbitrary factorssuch as the timing of judicial decisionsto determine whether similarly situated death row prisoners will receive retroactive application of constitutional rights.
Issues:(1) Whether the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authoritys 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.
Posted in Cases in the Pipeline
Cases: Harvey v. Florida, Archdiocese of Washington v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority