Supreme Court grants cert on two Eighth Amendment LWOP challenges for 14-year-old murderers!

In this post last week, I asked "What might SCOTUS be doing with long-held cases involving 14-year-olds serving LWOP?".  This morning we got an answer via the Supreme Court's new order list: getting ready to grant cert and thereby tee up the biggest constitutional sentencing cases for the current SCOTUS Term!!

I do not yet know the details that surround the crimes and administration of LWOP punishments in Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs (which comes from Arkansas).  But I do know that that Miller and Jackson are now the two most important sentencing cases now on the Supreme Court's docket for the current Term.

I will have lots and lots and lots to say about these cases in the weeks and months ahead, but I will start by simply affording kudos to the Justices for taking on this important post-Graham issue head-on rather than dodging it for a few more years.

A few recent related posts from just the last few months:

• What might SCOTUS be doing with long-held cases involving 14-year-olds serving LWOP?
• "Graham on the Ground"
• Does Graham create constitutional problems for juve LWOP for murder accomplice?
• "The Supreme Court and the Sentencing of Juveniles in the United States: Reaffirming the Distinctiveness of Youth"
• "Juvenile Criminal Responsibility: Can Malice Supply the Want of Years?"