On April 19, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted one new case for review during its 2021-2022 term. With the addition of this case, the court has agreed to hear 11 cases during the term, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 4.
Hemphill v. New York concerns a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to be confronted by the witnesses against him. The question presented to the court is: “Whether, or under what circumstances, a criminal defendant who opens the door to responsive evidence also forfeits his right to exclude evidence otherwise barred by the Confrontation Clause.”
The Supreme Court is currently hearing oral arguments as part of its 2020-2021 term. Its April sitting began on April 19 and will conclude on April 28, with the court hearing 10 hours of oral argument during that period. As of April 1, 2021, the court had agreed to hear 63 cases during its 2020-2021 term. Of those, 12 were originally scheduled for the 2019-2020 term but were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As of April 5, the court had issued opinions in 26 cases this term. Five cases were decided without argument.
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