Jones v. Mississippi: Brief of Erwin Chemerinsky, Eric M. Freedman, Craig Futterman, Martin Guggenheim, Bernard E. Harcourt, Shani M. King, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier, Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Leah Litman, Christopher Seeds, Alison Siegler, Carol Steiker, David A. Strauss, Carlos Manuel Vazquez, Gideon Yaffe, Steven Zeidman as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner

Authors

Leah Litman, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

6-12-2020

Abstract

Amici are scholars of federal courts and/or criminal law, studying the operation and purposes of federal jurisdiction and criminal law. Although they have divergent legal and political outlooks, amici share a keen interest in the federal courts and criminal law, having published extensively on these topics and collected decades of experience examining issues implicated in this case.

Amici share a concern that the lower court’s judgment threatens the rule of law this Court announced in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012) 4 and affirmed in Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016) that life without the possibility of parole for a child is disproportionate for all but the rarest of juvenile offenders whose crimes reflect irreparable corruption and for whom rehabilitation is impossible.

This case concerns the scope of the constitutional rule announced in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and declared retroactive in Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016). Miller established a substantive rule that renders life without parole disproportionate for the vast majority of juveniles in light of their “diminished culpability and heightened capacity for change.” Id. at 479. Under Miller, only those juveniles who are permanently incorrigible are constitutionally eligible for life without parole.

Comments

Amicus: Chemerinsky, Erwin; Freedman, Eric M.; Futterman, Craig; Guggenheim, Martin; Harcourt, Bernard E.; King, Shani M.; Kirchmeier, Jeffrey L.; Kohler-Hausmann, Issa; Litman, Leah; Seeds, Christopher; Siegler, Alison; Steiker, Carol; Strauss, David A.; Vazquez, Carlos Manuel; Yaffe, Gideon; Zeidman, Steven

Recommended Citation

Litman, Leah, "Jones v. Mississippi: Brief of Erwin Chemerinsky, Eric M. Freedman, Craig Futterman, Martin Guggenheim, Bernard E. Harcourt, Shani M. King, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier, Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Leah Litman, Christopher Seeds, Alison Siegler, Carol Steiker, David A. Strauss, Carlos Manuel Vazquez, Gideon Yaffe, Steven Zeidman as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner" (2020). Appellate Briefs. 60.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/briefs/60