Independence or Convergence – A Review of the Supreme Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Criminal Law (Zoom Program)

Co-sponsored with the Social Law Library
This is a bench/bar program.

Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U. S. District Court, District of Massachusetts

Judge Stearns will begin with (in his estimation) the United States Supreme Court’s most important decisions impacting Massachusetts criminal law decided during the 2021-2022 Term: New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (right to bear arms); United States v. Tsarnaev (juror voir dire); Rivas-Villegas v. Cortesluna and City of Tahlequah, Oklahoma v. Bond (qualified immunity); Vega v. Tekoh (Miranda warnings); and Hemphill v. New York (Confrontation Clause).

In that same vein, he will be discussing (what he considers) the most important of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s (SJC) criminal law cases of the last year, which as of the time this course description was written, included Commonwealth v. Rossetti (sentencing); Commonwealth v. Dufresne (right to counsel); Commonwealth v. DeJesus (standing and the expectation of privacy); Commonwealth v. Carasquillo (third party records doctrine); Commonwealth v. Perry (CSLI searches), Commonwealth v. Carter (jury service and LGBTQ rights);  and Commonwealth v. Sweeting-Bailey (threshold inquiries). Judge Stearns will continue the theme raised in last fall’s lecture of the convergences between SJC and Supreme Court thinking in areas of criminal law. He will also discuss the Legislature’s “Police Reform Act” and the arguments for (and against) the revival of state constitutionalism advocated by SJC Justice Scott Kafker in his recently published Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly  article: “State Constitutional Law Declares its Independence: Double Protecting Rights During a Time of Federal Constitutional Upheaval.”

An outline of the cases discussed by Judge Stearns (with citations) will be posted for attendees to download.

Registration: There is no fee for judges to attend this online program. Please email your name, court, email address, and phone number to Michael Saporito at msaporito@socialaw.com and he will process your registration.