[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in two cases titled Kansas v. Carr [SCOTUSblog backgrounder], consolidating them for oral argument. These cases examine whether the Eighth Amendment [text] right to an “individualized sentencing” was violated by the decision not to sever the sentencing phase of a co-defendant’s trial. The court will also look at whether, under the Eighth Amendment, jury members in a capital case should be affirmatively instructed that mitigating circumstances do not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, or if they should be permitted to weigh and assess any mitigating circumstances individually. These issues will also be examined in Kansas v. Gleason [docket], which the court agreed to review.

The court also granted review in Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan [docket], which will deal with an Employee Retirement and Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) [text] fiduciary filing a lawsuit against a participant to recover overpayment. The court will look to see if the plan seeks equitable relief under ERISA even though the fiduciary did not identify a particular fund that was under the participant’s control at the time of the claim.