Supreme Court takes student religious group, sentencing cases News
Supreme Court takes student religious group, sentencing cases

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in two cases. In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider whether a state law school may deny recognition to a religious student organization where the group requires its officers and voting members to agree with its core religious beliefs, thereby excluding gay students. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled [opinion, PDF] in favor of the law school.

In Dillon v. United States [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the Court will consider whether the federal sentencing guidelines [materials] are binding when a federal judge imposes a new sentence. Under the Supreme Court's 2005 ruling in United States v. Booker [opinion text], the guidelines are advisory only, but the Court has never ruled on Booker's application to a sentence modification proceeding. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that Booker should not apply in sentence modification proceedings, upholding Percy Dillon's modified sentence.

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