Quick one this week.
SCOTUS just wrapped its term and the numbers are wild.
11 out of 16 criminal cases broke in favor of the defense.
Same ratio as last term too, so it's not a one-off.
Roberts voted with the defense all 11 times.
He didn't write a single opinion, he just sat there and let it happen.
Chatrie said cops need a warrant for geofence data now.
And Kagan, in the opinion, actually named "the criminal defense attorney" as someone whose location deserves privacy.
Hunter killed the idea that an appeal waiver survives a real miscarriage of justice.
Gorsuch went even further in his own opinion and basically said the quiet part.
95% of convictions come from pleas now, so pleas aren't part of the system anymore. They are the system.
Then the money side.
You remember the CJA mess panel attorneys taking out loans just to make payroll because vouchers stopped getting paid.
That's done.
FY26 came in fully funded and back pay went out.
The rate's up to $177/hr now.
Can’t relax completely…
Immigration cases are piling up in federal court right now and next year's funding fight already started.
But the fire that was burning is out.
And one more thing to note this week.
A CJA-appointed defense attorney used AI to write his appellate brief.
Fake quotes ended up in the filing.
Sixth Circuit took away his whole fee, pulled him off the case, sent him to the bar.
They said his client had no one else to rely on and he let AI write the brief anyway.
Just another reminder to actually read what you file.
-The Criminal Defense Brief
P.S. Help shape where Criminal Defense Brief goes next. Takes 2 minutes.