Martin Estrada Quoted in Law360 on Supreme Court’s Criminal Law Term 

Munger, Tolles & Olson Co-Managing Partner Martin Estrada was quoted in the Law360 article, “Justices Find Middle Ground In Favoring Criminal Defendants,” which examines the U.S. Supreme Court’s criminal law rulings this term and how the Court often favored criminal defendants while taking relatively moderate positions.  

Among the decisions highlighted in the article is Hunter v. United States, in which the Court held that appeal waivers in plea agreements are unenforceable when enforcing them would result in a “miscarriage of justice.” Martin observed that the majority’s opinion is sufficiently narrow to avoid spurring dramatic changes to plea agreements. 

Commenting on Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence, Martin said it raises valid frustrations stemming from egregious examples of prosecutorial conduct, while noting that defendants overwhelmingly tend to fare better through plea bargaining than at trial. He added, “People need to have faith that prosecutors are doing the right thing — following the law and the facts, while acting ethically to achieve just outcomes. Our justice system cannot work effectively without that faith. It is imperative that the Department of Justice and prosecutors in general recognize that maintaining integrity is essential to really doing justice.” 

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