SULLIVAN v. FLORIDA
CERTIORARI TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA, FIRST DISTRICT
No. 08-7621.
Argued November 9, 2009 —
Decided May 17, 2010
Bryan A. Stevenson argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Aaryn M. Urell and Alicia A. D’Addario.
Scott D. Makar, Solicitor General of Florida, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Bill Mc-Collum, Attorney General, Louis F. Hubener, Chief Deputy Solicitor General, and Timothy D. Osterhaus, Craig D. Feiser, Courtney Brewer, and Ronald A. Latinan, Deputy Solicitors General.
Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the American Bar Association by H. Thomas Wells, Jr., and Lawrence A Wojcik; for the American Psychological Association et al. by Danielle M. Spinelli, Anne Harkavy, Shirley C. Woodward, Nathalie F. P. Gilfoyle, Richard G. Taranto, Carolyn I. Polowy, and Mark J. Heyrman; for Amnesty International et al. by Constance de la Vega, Michelle T. Leighton, and Neil A F. Popovic; for the Disability Rights Legal Center by Neil M. Soltman and Donald M. Falk; for Educators et al. by John J. Gibbons, Lawrence S. iMstberg, and Jennifer B. Condon; for Former Juvenile Offender Charles S. Dutton et al. by David W. DeBruin; for the Juvenile Law Center et al. by Marsha L. Levick; for the Mothers Against Murderers Association et al. by Angela C. Vigil, William Lynch Schaller, and Michael A. Pollard; for the Sentencing Project by Matthew M. Shors and Shannon M. Pazur; and for J. Lawrence Aber et al. by Stephen M. Nickelsburg.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of Louisiana et al. by James D. “Buddy” Caldwell, Attorney General of Louisiana, and Kyle Duncan, Appellate Chief, by Richard S. Gebelein, Chief Deputy Attorney General of Delaware, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Troy King of Alabama, Gregory F. Zoel-ler of Indiana, Jack Conway of Kentucky, Michael A Cox of Michigan, Jim Hood of Mississippi, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Wayne Stenehjem of North Dakota, W. A Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Thomas W. Cor- bett, Jr., of Pennsylvania, Henry D. McMaster of South Carolina, Marty J. Jackley of South Dakota, Robert E. Cooper, Jr., of Tennessee, Greg Abbott of Texas, Mark L. Shurtleffoi Utah, William C. Mims of Virginia, Robert M. McKenna of Washington, and Bruce A. Salzburg of Wyoming; for the National District Attorneys Association by Gene C. Schaerr and Linda T. Coberly; for the Solidarity Center for Law and Justice et al. by James P. Kelly III; and for Sixteen Members of the United States House of Representatives by Michael P. Farris.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists et al. by Michael B. de Leeuw; for the American Medical Association et al. by E. Joshua Rosenkranz; for the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law by Richard K. Willard and Anthony S. Barkow; for the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence by Anthony T. Caso, Edwin Meese III, and John C. Eastman; for the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators et al. by Corrine A. Irish; for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation by Kent S. Scheidegger; for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., et al. by John A. Payton, Debo P. Adegbile, Christina Swarns, Jin Hee Lee, Vincent M. Southerland, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Robert J. Smith, and Jeffrey L. Fisher; and for the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers et al. by Shannon Lee Goessling.
Per Curiam.
The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted.
It is so ordered.
What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to determine the issue area of the Court's decision. Determine the issue area on the basis of the Court's own statements as to what the case is about. Focus on the subject matter of the controversy rather than its legal basis. In specifying the issue in a legacy case, choose the one that best accords with what today's Court would consider it to be. Choose among the following issue areas: "Criminal Procedure" encompasses the rights of persons accused of crime, except for the due process rights of prisoners. "Civil rights" includes non-First Amendment freedom cases which pertain to classifications based on race (including American Indians), age, indigency, voting, residency, military or handicapped status, gender, and alienage. "First Amendment encompasses the scope of this constitutional provision, but do note that it need not involve the interpretation and application of a provision of the First Amendment. For example, if the case only construe a precedent, or the reviewability of a claim based on the First Amendment, or the scope of an administrative rule or regulation that impacts the exercise of First Amendment freedoms. "Due process" is limited to non-criminal guarantees. "Privacy" concerns libel, comity, abortion, contraceptives, right to die, and Freedom of Information Act and related federal or state statutes or regulations. "Attorneys" includes attorneys' compensation and licenses, along with trhose of governmental officials and employees. "Unions" encompass those issues involving labor union activity. "Economic activity" is largely commercial and business related; it includes tort actions and employee actions vis-a-vis employers. "Judicial power" concerns the exercise of the judiciary's own power. "Federalism" pertains to conflicts and other relationships between the federal government and the states, except for those between the federal and state courts. "Federal taxation" concerns the Internal Revenue Code and related statutes. "Private law" relates to disputes between private persons involving real and personal property, contracts, evidence, civil procedure, torts, wills and trusts, and commercial transactions. Prior to the passage of the Judges' Bill of 1925 much of the Court's cases concerned such issues. Use "Miscellaneous" for legislative veto and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states.
Criminal Procedure Civil Rights First Amendment Due Process Privacy Attorneys Unions Economic Activity Judicial Power Federalism Interstate Relations Federal Taxation Miscellaneous Private Action