Gorsuch joins liberal justices in ruling against federal criminal statute | TheHill – The Hill

Gorsuch argued that judges have the authority to issue penalties based on juries’ findings, and that the judge in Haymond’s case should not have able to make the ruling unilaterally.

But he noted that the decision relates solely to the federal statute being challenged by Haymond, meaning that it won’t have an extensive impact outside of that law.

In his concurring opinion, Breyer wrote that he agrees “with much of the dissent,” particularly the argument that it’s typical for a judge to issue decisions like he did in Haymond’s case. But he said that he still believed the law to be unconstitutional.

Breyer said that aspects of the statute “more closely resemble the punishment of new criminal offenses, but without granting a defendant the rights, including the jury right, that attend a new criminal prosecution.”

Justices Samuel AlitoSamuel AlitoSupreme Court declines to overturn doctrine on regulatory clarity Gorsuch joins liberal justices in ruling against federal criminal statute Supreme Court rules against newspaper over information request, giving confidentiality win to businesses MORE, Clarence ThomasClarence ThomasSupreme Court declines to overturn doctrine on regulatory clarity Gorsuch joins liberal justices in ruling against federal criminal statute EXCLUSIVE: Trump: I would fill Supreme Court vacancy before 2020 election MORE and Brett KavanaughBrett Michael KavanaughSupreme Court declines to overturn doctrine on regulatory clarity Gorsuch joins liberal justices in ruling against federal criminal statute Susan Collins: Trump’s ‘she’s not my type’ defense is ‘extremely bizarre’ MORE and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.

In the dissenting opinion, Alito wrote he does “not think there is a constitutional basis” for the court’s decision, but noted that it’s a narrow ruling and will prevent the justices from dealing with the “consequences.”

Rather, he argued, the plurality opinion appeared to “have been carefully crafted for the purpose of laying the groundwork for later decisions of much broader scope.”

Alito wrote that several passages of Gorsuch’s opinion “suggest that the entire system of supervised release, which has been an integral part of the federal criminal justice system for the past 35 years, is fundamentally flawed in ways that cannot be fixed.”

And he said that the opinion indicates that each violation of supervised release should be treated as a new criminal prosecution under the Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial. Alito said that if that’s the case, “the whole system of supervised release would be like a 40-ton truck speeding down a steep mountain road with no brakes.”

The dissent pushed back against the claim that supervised release should fall under the scope of the Sixth Amendment, with Alito arguing that the defendants in those cases are charged with violating their parole, and not necessarily with new criminal conduct.

“If the court eventually takes the trip that this opinion proposes, the consequences will be far reaching and unfortunate,” Alito wrote.