Henderson v. United States (11-9307)
argument 11-9307Henderson v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 1m
6 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 6 days ago
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What is the central legal issue presented in Henderson v. United States?
We'll hear argument this morning in case eleven ninety three oh seven Henderson versus United States.
Ms.
Gilly?
Mr Chief Justice, and may it please the Court, There are three primary po points I would like to focus on this morning during my argument. First The question presented by Mr. Henderson involves a very small subset of cases which are which come before the court under Rule fifty five fifty-two B each year. These are the cases that were referred to as the special case in the Alano uh decision. They have errors which at the time of trial Were uh unsettled or unclear, but by the time they made it to the appellate court They had become clear v by a clarifying rule or a decision. Second. What
about the time they come up here? Fifty two B applies to every court, does it not?
Yes, your honor.
So suppose there's been been no objection uh to a uh uncertain question uh on an uncertain question of law. until the case gets here. Can can counsel uh argue that this court should nonetheless uh review the case because if we agree with counsel Thereupon the law would be clear. When we issued our decision, the law would be clear.
I believe that the court would have the authority to do that because it says drive if it is on direct appeal or not yet final. So it would not yet be final unless the time had expired for uh the petitioner to Mm.
Go about deciding whether we would take such a case or not. We t take all all those cases where counsel says, I didn't we we didn't raise any of these objections, neither in the Court of Appeals nor in the district court. But if you agree if you agree with me, Your Honors, that uh the law is thus and so Once you say that, that that will make uh the decisions below clear error and therefore you should be able to reverse them. Makes sense, right?
Well I I believe the Supreme Court has under its own special rules the ab the ability to take an argument and a a uh petition that has not been raised before, but on its own could accept it if it is clear at the time.
Then what your your first answer was that this is a very small set of cases that you're dealing with. If your answer to Justice Scalia is yes, this court could take a case, it's unsettled. And by settling it. Make the error. Plain. That would um open the door to a huge number of cases, wouldn't it?
I don't believe so, Your Honor. I believe that the pr provisions to get to the Supreme Court Frankly I I don't know the answer as to if you had skipped the um the appellate court. Uh And and we're still in that window of time, that transition period after the appellate court had ruled and only then The clarifying error came. Uh I I think you could still come to the Supreme Court. But the very narrow
the
very narrow
in the sense that uh substantial rights would have to be affected um and the other conditions of Alano met. But uh I I think uh Consequent on Justice Scalia's question is that itself would be another issue in every case. Is this one of those cases? Number one it was wrong, number two it's new. Number three, is it clear under all the Olano Uh criteria and that would have to be decided in every case. So at the end of the day it could be a small subset of cases. Uh but the number that would be presented both for this courts and the Court of Appeals would be quite substantial.
Well I think there would be very few that would come directly to the Supreme Court. The vast majority of the cases obviously would come through the circuits. And what I was referring to as a very small subset would be uh those cases where there is actually an unsettled uh error, an unsettled claimed error at the trial. There are very few cases that would come out of the Supreme Court during the period of time Of appeal. uh that would allow for the petitioner to uh to say, well now it's clear.
Well this is a c I mean The time from the district court decision in this case to today is how long?
It's well, this case started in two thousand and nine. My client pled guilty in June of two thousand and ten.
In any case in which in a typical case in which this happens, you've got uh two years of cases, right?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central legal issue presented in Henderson v. United States?
0:01–7:52
2
How does Rule 552(b) define a “plain error” and why is the word “plain” important?
7:52–14:37
3
Why do the petitioners argue that plain‑error review should be applied at the appellate stage rather than at trial?
14:37–22:03
4
What is the significance of the Johnson and Olano cases for interpreting Rule 552(b)?
22:03–29:15
5
How does the Henderson case illustrate the problem of lengthy post‑trial timelines and intervening decisions?
29:15–37:03
6
What role does judicial efficiency play in the debate over when an error is considered “plain”?
37:03–44:54
7
How might the plain‑error rule affect sentencing errors versus trial‑court errors?
44:54–52:59
8
What are the potential consequences of expanding the plain‑error doctrine to include actual‑innocence claims?
52:59–1:01:32