A few new criminal law opinions from SCOTUS

Though the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor will ensure that the future of the Supreme Court gets most of the headlines, the Justices did hand down a few opinions this morning.  And, intriguingly, all three opinions issued today have criminal law dimensions.

As always, SCOTUSblog and How Appealing are the places to go for all the basics and key links.  Here are the essentials from this post at SCOTUSblog:

The Court has released the opinion in Abuelhawa v. United States (08-192) . The decision below, which held for is the United States, is reversed and remanded in a unanimous opinion by Justice Souter, available here.

The Court has released the opinion in Montejo v. Louisiana (07-1529).  The decision below, which held for the state, is vacated and remanded in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Scalia, available here.  Justice Alito filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice Kennedy joined. Justice Stevens filed a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Souter and Ginsburg, and by Justice Breyer except for footnote 5.  Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion.

The Court has released the opinion in Haywood v. Drown (07-10374). The decision below, which held for the state, is reversed and remanded in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Stevens, available here. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion,  joined as to Part III by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Alito.

How Appealing at the end of this post provides links to this early press coverage of the rulings:

In early news coverage, The Associated Press has reports headlined "Court: Suspect must ask for atty to get protection"; "Court says states can't bar some rights suits"; "Court: Phone drug buys shouldn't bring extra time"

I hope to find time during this busy day to figure out if anything the current Supreme Court has said today should be of special interest for sentencing fans.