Recent legal developments: Criminal justice decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, 2019 term

During its 2019 term, the US Supreme Court issued a total of 60 decisions on the merits, including 53 signed opinions, five summary reversals, and two per curiam opinion. Of the 60 decisions, 11 (18%) dealt primarily with a criminal justice-related issue. This is the fewest number of criminal justice-related decisions issued by the Court in the past quarter-century. A number of these decisions dealt with important issues such as search and seizure, sentencing, and the interpretation of federal statutes. These are discussed below.