Julian v. United States

Background

A man was stopped at a Los Angeles airport while trying to board a flight to Lima, Peru after a customs announcement about taking more than $5,000 out of the country. He denied carrying that amount, but a search found about $29,000 in cash and drug paraphernalia. A jury convicted him of attempted drug importation, lying to a government official, and failing to file a required currency report; he received prison terms and fines, and the appeals court affirmed those convictions.

Reasoning

The immediate question was whether he should be released while the Supreme Court decides whether to hear his case. Justice Rehnquist, acting alone, explained that bail pending Supreme Court review is granted only in extraordinary cases and that the applicant must show a reasonable chance that four Justices will agree to hear the case. Rehnquist found the applicant’s main arguments unlikely to win four votes: the false-statement law applies to his oral denial, the currency-reporting charge is a separate offense under the usual test for cumulative punishments, and border-search law supports the search that found the cash.

Real world impact

The decision leaves the lower-court convictions and sentences in effect while the defendant’s petition is considered and underscores how rare it is to get release during Supreme Court review. This ruling is not a final decision on the underlying claims; the Supreme Court could still decide to hear the case and reach different results on the merits.