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Danny James McLaughlin v. United States
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, No. 20-10708 · judgment February 16, 2021
Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, an Eleventh Circuit decision below, and counsel who has filed here before.
Question presented
When deciding whether a criminal fine is disproportionate to the gravity of a defendant’s crime, and thereby unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment, may a reviewing court look beyond and consider more than the four factors identified in United States v. Bajakajian, 118 S. Ct. 2028 (1998); that is, are the Bajakajian factors exhaustive, such that a reviewing court is strictly limited to a narrow comparison between the amount of a fine and the characteristics of the offense; or, may a reviewing court accept, entertain, and consider other matters in addition to the enumerated Bajakajian factors when answering an Eighth Amendment challenge to a fine as excessive?
Similar questions
Other petitions whose question is worded like this one.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Fritz Scheller
Fritz Scheller, P.L.
For respondent
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General
Case
Subject area
Criminal Procedure (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Order
Order list, October 4, 2021 · Certiorari denied
Proceedings
- Oct 04 2021Petition DENIED.
- Jul 21 2021DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
- Jul 19 2021Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
- Jul 13 2021Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 16, 2021)