The Supreme Court is off to another slow start this term, oral argument wise. The court announced it will hear only three cases in November. After the three-argument and four-argument calendars in September and October, respectively, the court is now on track to issue only about 37 opinions for the term. That would be an historic low. (See here.) However, the court also started last term slowly, but picked up the pace later and ended with 58 opinions.
On Tuesday, November 5 (Election Day!), in San Francisco, the court will hear the following cases (with the issue or issues presented as summarized by court staff or limited by the court itself):
Crescent Trust v. City of Oakland: Is a pre-1972 conveyance by a single deed of a group of fewer than five contiguous lots that are separately described in the deed by reference to lot numbers on a pre-1893 survey map a “division” of land that “creates” an individual lawful lot for each of the separately described lots in the single deed under the conclusive presumption set forth in Government Code section 66412.6, subdivision (a) of the Subdivision Map Act? The court granted review in July 2023. More about the case here.
People v. Lopez: When the court granted review in November 2023, it limited the issue to: “Is defendant entitled to retroactive application of Assembly Bill No. 333 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) where he appeals for a second time after his judgment was conditionally reversed and the Court of Appeal issued a limited remand to the trial court to address sentencing issues?” More about the case here.
People v. Hin: This is an automatic direct appeal from a February 2006 judgment of death. The court’s website does not list issues for death penalty appeals. However, there are a number of non-capital cases holding for Hin and another death penalty appeal (People v. Bankston), and, when those cases were held, court staff stated that Hin and Bankston “include an issue involving the retroactivity of the provision in Assembly Bill No. 2799 (Stats. 2022, ch. 973) limiting the admissibility of creative expressions (Pen. Code, § 352.2).” In Hin, counsel was appointed in September 2009. Initial briefing was completed in October 2014. There were nine rounds of supplemental briefing, the last completed in May of this year. Three of those rounds came after the court issued its oral argument letter in February 2023.
Briefs for the cases will soon be posted here. The arguments will be live streamed. Opinions in the cases should file by February 3, 2025.
