Document Type
Brief
Publication Date
12-10-2009
Abstract
Amici curiae are law professors who specialize in constitutional law, substantive criminal law, and criminal procedure. As law professors, amici have a particular interest in ensuring that the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I of the United States Constitution is enforced in a manner consistent with its core historic goals and principles. The judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit violated these goals and principles, and it prescribed a peculiar new test for application of the Clause that significantly deviates from this Court's settled jurisprudence.
In this brief, amici explore the critical structural role of the Ex Post Facto Clause, set forth in Article I of the United States Constitution, as applied to the prosecution of Thomas Carr. Since the nation's founding, the Clause has guarded against retrospective criminal legislation targeting unpopular individuals. The prosecution of Carr, a convicted sex offender, is emblematic of the situation feared by the Framers, which is why the Clause was placed in the body of the Constitution itself. The Seventh Circuit, in addition to disregarding the core purposes of the Clause, adopted a new test, allowing for prosecution of an individual based on behavior occurring before enactment of the criminal law in question. The Court should reverse the erroneous judgment of the Seventh Circuit and restore the firewall wisely embedded by the Framers in the Constitution against retroactive criminal legislation.
Recommended Citation
Prescott, J. J., "Carr v. United States: Brief of Law Professors as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner" (2009). Appellate Briefs. 23.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/briefs/23
Comments
Amicus: Berman, Douglas A.; Birckhead, Tamar R.; Cahill, Professor Michael T.; Chin, Professor Gabriel J.; Dunlap, Professor William V.; Harris, Professor David A.; Logan, Professor Wayne A.; Zydney Mannheimer, Professor Michael J.; O'Hear, Professor Michael; Prescott, Professor J.J.; Richardson, Professor L. Song; Robbins, Professor Ira P.; Rudovsky, Professor David; Yung, Professor Corey Rayburn