Another term of the US Supreme Court has come and gone. Of course it hasn't really ended for you, my devoted readers, until you've had a chance to see what Christopher Faille thinks of it. So here we are. There are many decisions this term that involve very important and topical matters that won't be discussed here or that (as in the case of state taxation of online sales) will only be glancingly mentioned. When that happens, it may be for no reason better than that they have been much covered and I have nothing in particular to add about them. I was tempted, when I first started outlining this material, to spend a fair amount of space on LAGOS v. US, an interpretation of the criminal restitution statute, that is, a statute aimed at getting the guilty to pay for the costs of enforcing the law against them. But I have overcome that temptation. Here, instead, is a very summary statement. In a unanimous opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer the Court adopted a narrow view o...
