Just a couple of criminal matters in big new set of SCOTUS cert grants

The Supreme Court this afternoon granted cert on a number of cases via this order list.  Sadly, there is not much of interest in all the cases for sentencing fans, and really only one criminal case and immigration cases with criminal law elements.  This SCOTUSblog post has all the details, and here are snippets from that post:

The Supreme Court will review how employers must accommodate their employees’ religious practices, how courts should decide whether threatening statements are protected by the First Amendment, and whether a local government violated the Constitution when it confiscated and sold a $40,000 home based on the owner’s failure to pay $15,000 in property taxes.

Those issues are among a slew of new disputes that the justices added to their docket on Friday afternoon in an order list from their private conference earlier in the day. The justices granted review in 11 new cases for a total of eight hours of oral argument. The cases will likely be argued in late April, with decisions to follow by summer....

Counterman v. Colorado

The court also agreed to weigh in on an important free speech question: What test should courts use to determine whether statements are “true threats” that are not protected by the First Amendment? The question comes to the court in the case of Billy Raymond Counterman, who was convicted and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for stalking a local musician....

Pugin v. Garland and Garland v. Cordero-Garcia

In a pair of immigration cases that have been consolidated for oral argument, the justices agreed to decide whether a criminal offense that does not interfere with an existing investigation or judicial proceeding qualifies as an “offense relating to obstruction of justice,” a serious crime that can result in deportation and additional criminal punishment for noncitizens.