As any reader of this space will already know, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision to deny Rod Blagojevich’s Petition for Certiorari to the Seventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals. In plain English, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take this important case, letting the Seventh Circuit decision upholding Mr. Blagojevich’s conviction and sentence stand.
I was flattered by the request of the Officers of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (IACDL) to write an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in support of asking the Court to take the case. I, along with Adam Sheppard of The Sheppard Law Firm, P.C. took up the challenge and wrote a brief regarding two important federal criminal justice issues that affect defendants nationwide. The first issue deals with the fact that federal prosecutors will have too much power using bribery statutes in cases involving campaign finance money to go after politicians in the opposing party. The second argues that the role of the federal judge in sentencing is to answer specific questions (rather than be silent) regarding why a defendant in the position of Mr. Blagojevich should receive a disparate sentence compared to others who commit similar crimes but get much less prison time.
I hope the U.S. Supreme Court will take up these important issues in a future case.
The link to IACDL’s Amicus Brief can be found here:
Bill Wolf