Day: October 13, 2025

Source: sentencing.substack.com 10/13/25 This term, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Ellingburg v. United States, which asks whether criminal restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) constitutes punishment for purposes of the Ex Post Facto Clause. The Clause prohibits retroactive increases of criminal punishments, ensuring that the government cannot change the rules after the fact to impose harsher penalties. Criminal restitution — the money paid by a defendant to a victim — has grown into one of the most troubling, yet least examined, features of modern criminal sentencing. Unlike criminal…

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