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 whether the decision of the court whose decision the Supreme Court reviewed was itself liberal or conservative. In the context of issues pertaining to criminal procedure, civil rights, First Amendment, due process, privacy, and attorneys, consider liberal to be pro-person accused or convicted of crime, or denied a jury trial, pro-civil liberties or civil rights claimant, especially those exercising less protected civil rights (e.g., homosexuality), pro-child or juvenile, pro-indigent pro-Indian, pro-affirmative action, pro-neutrality in establishment clause cases, pro-female in abortion, pro-underdog, anti-slavery, incorporation of foreign territories anti-government in the context of due process, except for takings clause cases where a pro-government, anti-owner vote is considered liberal except in criminal forfeiture cases or those where the taking is pro-business violation of due process by exercising jurisdiction over nonresident, pro-attorney or governmental official in non-liability cases, pro-accountability and/or anti-corruption in campaign spending pro-privacy vis-a-vis the 1st Amendment where the privacy invaded is that of mental incompetents, pro-disclosure in Freedom of Information Act issues except for employment and student records. In the context of issues pertaining to unions and economic activity, consider liberal to be pro-union except in union antitrust where liberal = pro-competition, pro-government, anti-business anti-employer, pro-competition, pro-injured person, pro-indigent, pro-small business vis-a-vis large business pro-state/anti-business in state tax cases, pro-debtor, pro-bankrupt, pro-Indian, pro-environmental protection, pro-economic underdog pro-consumer, pro-accountability in governmental corruption, pro-original grantee, purchaser, or occupant in state and territorial land claims anti-union member or employee vis-a-vis union, anti-union in union antitrust, anti-union in union or closed shop, pro-trial in arbitration. In the context of issues pertaining to judicial power, consider liberal to be pro-exercise of judicial power, pro-judicial "activism", pro-judicial review of administrative action. In the context of issues pertaining to federalism, consider liberal to be pro-federal power, pro-executive power in executive/congressional disputes, anti-state. In the context of issues pertaining to federal taxation, consider liberal to be pro-United States and conservative pro-taxpayer. In miscellaneous, consider conservative the incorporation of foreign territories and executive authority vis-a-vis congress or the states or judcial authority vis-a-vis state or federal legislative authority, and consider liberal legislative veto. The lower court's decision direction is unspecifiable if the manner in which the Supreme Court took jurisdiction is original or certification; or if the direction of the Supreme Court's decision is unspecifiable and the main issue pertains to private law or interstate relations