Brief filed: 06/06/2022
Documents
Blankenship v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 21-1428
Argument(s)
This case raises a question of fundamental importance to our criminal justice system. The circuits are split down the middle with respect to whether Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and its progeny impose affirmative obligations on criminal defendants to seek out exculpatory evidence from other sources even when the government already possesses the evidence in question. This dispute has created uncertainty about the scope of Brady's protections and has imposed investigatory obligations on some criminal defendants while imposing no such obligations on others. And it raises fundamental questions about the nature of our criminal justice system and the Constitution more broadly. These questions deserve this Court's immediate attention.
Author(s)
Barry J. Pollack, David J. Richards, and Rachel V. Czwartacky, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Washington, DC.
