Judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States of America

Charles Usen

Judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States of America

Episodes

  1. Berk v. Choy - Date Delivered 20th January, 2026

    Jan 28

    Berk v. Choy - Date Delivered 20th January, 2026

    Case Summary: Harold R. Berk injured his ankle while visiting Delaware and went to Beebe Medical Center for treatment, where he was seen by Dr. Wilson Choy and other providers for what was diagnosed as a fracture that did not require immediate surgery. Hospital staff placed his leg in a boot and, in the course of doing so, allegedly twisted and aggravated the fracture, after which Berk was discharged with instructions to avoid bearing weight and to return for follow‑up care. At a follow‑up visit about a month later at Dr. Choy’s office, new X‑rays allegedly revealed that Berk’s ankle had become severely deformed, now requiring surgery, and Berk contends that this worsening resulted from negligent diagnosis, communication, and treatment by Dr. Choy and the hospital staff. Berk, a citizen of another state, then filed a diversity medical‑malpractice action in federal district court in Delaware against Dr. Choy and Beebe Medical Center under Delaware substantive law. Delaware law requires that a medical‑malpractice complaint be accompanied by an affidavit of merit from a qualified expert, but Berk did not file such an affidavit and instead submitted medical records, arguing that the state’s affidavit requirement should not apply in federal court. The district court dismissed his case for failure to comply with the affidavit‑of‑merit statute, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed, holding that the Delaware requirement applied and warranted dismissal of his malpractice suit. The issue before the Supreme Court in Berk v. Choy was whether a federal court sitting in diversity and adjudicating a state‑law medical‑malpractice claim must apply a state “affidavit of merit” or expert‑affidavit requirement at the pleading stage, or instead follow the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure alone. More specifically, the question was whether Delaware’s statute requiring plaintiffs to attach a supporting expert affidavit to a malpractice complaint conflicts with and is displaced by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8 and 12 (and related rules) when the case is filed in federal court.

    49 min
  2. Ellingburg v. United States: Delivered on 20 January, 2026

    Jan 22

    Ellingburg v. United States: Delivered on 20 January, 2026

    Case Summary: Ellingburg v. United States involves a federal defendant, Holsey Ellingburg Jr., who robbed a First Union National Bank before the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA) became law, but was sentenced after its enactment and ordered to pay $7,567.25 in restitution under that Act. Ellingburg committed the bank robbery in 1995, was indicted in 1996 on federal bank robbery charges, pleaded guilty, and received a prison term plus a restitution order to the bank, which he has still not fully paid. Years later, he challenged his ongoing restitution obligation under the Ex Post Facto Clause on the ground that applying the MVRA to conduct predating its April 24, 1996 effective date retroactively increased his punishment. The Eighth Circuit rejected his claim after treating MVRA restitution as a nonpunitive, civil measure and therefore outside the Ex Post Facto Clause, prompting the grant of certiorari. In the Supreme Court, both Ellingburg and the United States agreed that the lower court was wrong and that MVRA restitution is criminal punishment, so the Court appointed an amicus curiae, John F. Bash, to defend the Eighth Circuit’s judgment. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether restitution ordered under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 constitutes criminal punishment, rather than a civil remedy, for purposes of applying the Ex Post Facto Clause to a defendant whose offense occurred before the MVRA’s enactment.

    57 min
  3. Pitts v. Mississippi

    Jan 20

    Pitts v. Mississippi

    Case Summary: In May 2020, Jeffrey Clyde Pitts’s young daughter, A.G.C., spent a weekend visiting him, and after returning home she told her mother that he had sexually abused her, which led to criminal charges. At trial, the prosecution requested that a physical screen be placed between A.G.C. and Pitts while she testified, so that the judge and jury could see her but she could not see her father. The State relied on a Mississippi statute that grants child witnesses a right to such a screen, and the trial judge approved the request, explaining that the statute appeared mandatory and expressing concern about refusing to follow it or declaring it unconstitutional. Pitts objected, arguing that even though the statute used mandatory language, the Sixth Amendment required a case-specific showing that screening was necessary in his particular case, but the trial went forward with the screen in place and the jury convicted him. He then appealed within the Mississippi courts, maintaining that the use of the screen without an individualized showing of necessity violated his confrontation rights. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Mississippi Supreme Court and remanded, holding that the Sixth Amendment was violated when the child witness was allowed to testify behind a screen without a case-specific finding of necessity. The Court reaffirmed that, even in child-abuse cases, a trial court must hear evidence and make a case-specific finding that screening is necessary to protect the child from trauma that would impair the child’s ability to communicate, and that a mandatory state statute or generalized legislative findings cannot substitute for this individualized determination. The Court also made clear that this confrontation error is subject to harmless-error review, and left it to the Mississippi courts on remand to decide whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt under Chapman v. California.

    11 min

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Judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States of America