Should we thank new Justices Alito and Sotomayor for all the big criminal law SCOTUS action?

As detailed in this SCOTUSblog post, three of the four cases in which the Supreme Court granted cert today involve criminal justice issues:

The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to rule on claims that “searing media attacks” on longtime Enron executive Jeffrey K. Skilling tainted his criminal trial and conviction on various fraud charges. The case of Skilling v. U.S. (08-1394) also raises an issue on the scope of the federal law punishing the failure to provide “honest services” as a corporate executive....

The other newly granted cases raise these issues: the scope of federal appeals courts’ authority to overturn a conviction that may have been based in part on conduct that was not criminal when it occurred (U.S. v. Marcus, 08-1341, a case in which Justice Sonia Sotomayor is recused, presumably because she was on the Second Circuit Court panel that decided the case earlier);... and whether “gross negligence” by a state-appointed defense attorney in a death penalty case provides a basis for extending the time to file a federal habeas challenge, in a case where the habeas plea was filed late despite repeated instructions from the client (Holland v. Florida, 09-5327).

And, as noted in this postfrom a few weeks ago, three other cases with big-time criminal justice implications were also recently put on the SCOTUS docket.  Add to all this the fact that this Fall's schedule already included a whole bunch of very important criminal justice cases, and I am already prepared to predict that the most notable feature of OT 2009 is its large and consequential criminal law docket.

Though lots of forces surely have been playing a role in the recent docket dynamics, I cannot help but speculate that the addition to the Court of two former prosecutors has been an important factor in these developments.  Both Justices Alito and Sotomayor likely find a range of criminal law topics inherently more interesting than their colleagues, and they also likely understand more fully how important clarity and certainty is to the work of all criminal justice practitioners.  (Another factor could also being the likely upcoming retirement of Justice Stevens: he has always been very engaged in criminal justice cases, and he may be eager to have one last bite at a bunch of criminal law apples.)

Some related old and new posts on related issues:

• How exactly do transitions impact the SCOTUS docket and cert grant decisions?
• A big SCOTUS oral argument week on tap for sentencing fans
• The 10 biggest cases to watch for sentencing fans in the new SCOTUS term
• Reflections on the politics of SCOTUS and personhood of its members
• Does SCOTUS need a trial judge?
• Will the next SCOTUS nominee have any criminal law background?
• Brave New Justice and sentencing issues
• Roberts, the cert pool, and sentencing jurisprudence
• Can Roberts bring consensus to SCOTUS sentencing jurisprudence?
• Justice Alito jumping out of the cert pool!!
• Looking ahead to SCOTUS docket dynamics
• Final version of my article on the SCOTUS death docket