Disappointing.
"The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will not reconsider the conviction and life sentence without parole of Ross Ulbricht, convicted for various crimes associated with founding and operating the darkweb site Silk Road. The Supreme Court typically does not explain such rejections.
It's a shame they aren't required to explain themselves, because the sea change in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence the Supremes effected with last week's Carpenter decision definitely means that the ways the government used warrantless searches of Ulbricht's computer use in arresting and convicting him are far less obviously legal than the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in considering Ulbricht's appeal were required to see them by pre-Carpenter precedent.
It's not that Carpenter, which was about cellphone records and not internet data, unequivocally dictates that Ulbricht should have won on appeal had the Court considered his case. But the entire Fourth Amendment environment under which he was arrested and convicted is so different now that a thorough rethinking was definitely in order.
The Fourth Amendment wasn't the only issue the Court had an apposite opportunity to rethink with Ulbricht's case. His life sentence without parole was based on accusations he was never actually tried on—namely that he was involved in planning (uncommitted) murders for hire. That raises important Sixth Amendment questions that at least Justices Thomas and Gorsuch have shown past interest in rethinking if the right case came along."
http://reason.com/blog/2018/06/28/ross-ulbrichts-case-will-not-be-heard-by
"The Supreme Court announced this morning that it will not reconsider the conviction and life sentence without parole of Ross Ulbricht, convicted for various crimes associated with founding and operating the darkweb site Silk Road. The Supreme Court typically does not explain such rejections.
It's a shame they aren't required to explain themselves, because the sea change in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence the Supremes effected with last week's Carpenter decision definitely means that the ways the government used warrantless searches of Ulbricht's computer use in arresting and convicting him are far less obviously legal than the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in considering Ulbricht's appeal were required to see them by pre-Carpenter precedent.
It's not that Carpenter, which was about cellphone records and not internet data, unequivocally dictates that Ulbricht should have won on appeal had the Court considered his case. But the entire Fourth Amendment environment under which he was arrested and convicted is so different now that a thorough rethinking was definitely in order.
The Fourth Amendment wasn't the only issue the Court had an apposite opportunity to rethink with Ulbricht's case. His life sentence without parole was based on accusations he was never actually tried on—namely that he was involved in planning (uncommitted) murders for hire. That raises important Sixth Amendment questions that at least Justices Thomas and Gorsuch have shown past interest in rethinking if the right case came along."
http://reason.com/blog/2018/06/28/ross-ulbrichts-case-will-not-be-heard-by