Supreme Court Gives States the Green Light to Infringe Copyrights

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf comments on a recent decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress lacked constitutional authority to enact the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990, which gives individuals the right to sue a state for damages for copyright infringement. Dorf describes the complexity of the Court’s sovereign immunity doctrine and points out the Court’s peculiar failure to simply invalidate a portion of the statute while severing and preserving the valid portions and/or applications of it—which the Court has done in some other cases.

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State v. Gonzalez

Docket: 119492

Opinion Date: March 27, 2020

Judge: Dan Biles

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of felony murder, attempted aggravated robbery, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, holding that there was sufficient evidence to prove intent to commit a robbery to support the convictions. On appeal, Defendant argued that there was not an adequate evidentiary basis for the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to rob the victim at the time of the shooting. The Supreme Court first considered the evidence supporting an intent to rob, which was a necessary element for both the felony-murder and attempted aggravated robbery convictions, and then examined the evidence supporting the conspiracy conviction. The Supreme Court then held (1) the evidence was sufficient to support all the convictions; (2) the trial court erred in giving an aiding and abetting instruction, but the error was harmless; and (3) as to Defendant's remaining allegations of error, there was no error.