Brief filed: 09/11/2018
Documents
Timbs v. Indiana
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 17-1091
Prior Decision
Decision below 84 N.E.3d 1179 (Ind. 2017)
Question Presented
Whether the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is incorporated against the states under the Fourteenth Amendment
Argument(s)
State courts may not discriminate against federal defenses. The Supremacy Clause requires state courts to adjudicate federal law when applicable. Where state courts have attempted to escape their constitutional duty to apply federal law, this Court has repeatedly held them accountable. Federal defenses based on incorporation are not exempt from the non-discrimination rule.
Author(s)
Jeffrey T. Green, Michael B. Buschbacher, and Ray Mangum, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC