Bernard Brief Bank: All Amicus Briefs Have Been Filed
In case you didn't already know, the United States Supreme Court is set to determine whether or not Minnesota's DWI laws are constitutional. The highest Court accepted review of three cases - here they are, with hyperlinks to the Supreme Court docket for each case:
Bernard v. Minnesota (14-1470): is it constitutional for a state to criminalize the act of refusing to submit to a warrantless DWI search?
Birchfield v. North Dakota (14-1468): Is it constitutional for a state to criminalize the act of refusing to submit to a warrantless DWI search?
Beylund v. North Dakota (14-1507): Is it constitutional for a state to claim that a driver "consented" to a warrantless search when that driver was threatened with the crime of refusal?
TIMELINE:
The briefs in support of the Appellants (Bernard, Birchfield, and Beylund) have already been filed, as have the briefs filed by several amicus curiae ("Friends of the Court," attorneys love using Latin phrases).
The briefs in support of Respondents (the States of Minnesota and North Dakota) filed their own briefs, and now we've received copies of the amicus curiae briefs filed in support of those Respondents (you can find links to those briefs below)
Oral Arguments are scheduled for April 20, 2016.
We expect a decision in June.
And one still-unresolved question (although it's looking like we know the answer) is whether or not the cases will be heard by an 8 member court, or a full 9 member court.
BRIEFS:
Here is a link to our blog post providing the three "merits| briefs filed by the Petitioners.
Here is a link to half of the |amicus| briefs filed in support of the Petitioners.
Here is a link to the other half of the |amicus| briefs filed in support of Petitioners.
Here is a link to the three |merits| briefs filed by the Respondents.
And, here's your update: Four |amicus| briefs filed in support of Respondent's, including a brief filed by the Solicitor General of the United States of America. There is also one amicus brief |in support of neither party.|
California District Attorney's Association
Council of State Governments, et. al.
New Jersey (and Seventeen Other States)
United States Solicitor General
Indiana Tech Law School Amicus Project (in support of neither party)
Petitioners have a little less than a month to file a reply brief, and then the written portion of this appeal will be complete â?? at that point, we'll be waiting for oral arguments, scheduled for April 20.