United States v. Lynch

Brief of the Cato Institute and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendant-Appellant’s Petition for Rehearing by Panel and Rehearing En Banc

Brief filed: 11/23/2018

Documents

United States v. Lynch

9th Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 10-50219 & 10-50264

Prior Decision

Panel decision 903 F.3d 1061 (9th Cir. Sept. 13, 2018), appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Argument(s)

The independence of citizen juries is a well-established and crucial feature of our legal and constitutional history. The panel majority erred in upholding the district court’s instruction suggesting that Lynch’s jury could be punished for engaging in nullification. Protecting jury independence is all the more important because of the vanishingly small role that jury trials play in our criminal justice system.

Author(s)

Clark M. Neily III and Jay R. Schweikert, Cato Institute, Washington, DC; Robin E. Wechkin, Sidley Austin LLP, Seattle, WA.