Contributor Spotlight

Harvard's Leah Litman taking the lead on key issue picked up by Supreme Court

Last week, the Supreme Court granted cert in a case to resolve a nine-way federal Circuit split about the retroactivity of the Court's decision last term inJohnson v. United States. InJohnson, the Court struck down the "residual clause" of the Armed Career Criminal Act as unconstitutional, potentially nullifying hundreds of federal sentences.

Casetext contributorLeah Litman, a former clerk for Justice Kennedy and a fellow at Harvard Law School, has written several authoritative pieces for Casetext highlighting the consequences of theJohnsondecision. In "Circuit Splits and Original Writs", she documented the Circuit split and explained the central problem bedeviling the federal courts:

Johnsonmeans that there are prisoners who have received a sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum for their offense. Johnson is also retroactive. In fact, it’s so clearly retroactive the United States is conceding that it is. But the courts of appeals disagree about whether the Supreme Court has “made” it retroactive.

In December, Leah's Casetext piece was cited in abriefto the Court requesting consideration of the retroactivity issue. Last Wednesday she explainedhow high the stakes are.On Friday, the Court granted cert inWelch v. United States, in which it is asked to address the circuit split on Johnson retroactivity.

This is what can happen when lawyers publish thoughtful analysis to a built-in audience of hundreds of thousands of legal readers, including the courts. If you've considered sharing your insights with the legal community but didn't know where to start, start here.

For more onJohnson, SCOTUS, and other criminal law news and analysis, visit Casetext'sCriminal Law community.