Professor Rory Little Previews Key Criminal Cases in New Supreme Court Term

Professor Rory Little wearing a red tie and cream-colored suit.

UC Law SF Professor Rory Little previews the criminal law cases set to shape the Supreme Court’s 2025–26 term.

  • Professor Rory Little describes what’s at stake in upcoming Supreme Court cases, including three cases involving a defendant’s right to legal counsel, police “emergency search” powers, and capital punishment.
  • Nearly half of the Supreme Court’s 2025–26 term cases involve criminal law, underscoring the Court’s central role in shaping constitutional protections.
  • Little will discuss recent Supreme Court decisions and upcoming cases with other UC Law SF experts at an on-campus panel talk on Sept. 24.

 

In his latest SCOTUSblog column, Professor Rory Little highlights the heavy slate of criminal law cases the Supreme Court will hear in its new term, which starts Oct. 6.

An expert in constitutional and criminal law, Little notes that among 31 cases granted review for the 2025–26 term, nearly half involve criminal law.

He highlights three significant cases:

  • Villarreal v. Texas (Oct. 6) asks whether a trial judge may restrict conversations between a defendant and their attorney during breaks between a defendant’s testimony.
  • Case v. Montana (Oct. 15) considers what standard law enforcement must meet to justify entering a home without a warrant under the “emergency aid” exception.
  • Hamm v. Smith (Nov. 4) weighs how courts should assess intellectual disability in capital cases and revisits a precedent that forbids executing people who are intellectually disabled.

Other cases on the docket cover sentencing, habeas corpus, immigration, and related issues, signaling a term with broad implications for criminal justice.

Little says it’s no accident that so many constitutional protections revolve around criminal law. As he notes, the nation’s founders themselves were once branded criminals for rebelling against the British crown.

A self-described “SCOTUS nerd,” he added: “The October sitting will provide a mouth-watering constitutional smorgasbord for Supreme Court epicures.”

Little will join other UC Law SF legal experts to delve more deeply into the Supreme Court’s recent and upcoming decisions in a panel discussion at 198 McAllister on Sept. 24. Professors Blaine Bookey, Zachary Price, and Radhika Rao will join Little as they discuss the last term’s most consequential decisions and major cases to be argued in the new term.