The Supreme Court Agrees to Hear an Appeal Filed By the Trump Administration to Reinstate the Death Penalty For the Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Last July, we reported that a Federal appeals court overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing.  Lawyers argued in the case that media coverage made it impossible to have a fair trial in Boston.

Progressives on Twitter celebrated the news, while then President Donald Trump tweeted multiple times strongly condemning the decision.

Ultimately, an appeal was filed by the Trump administration and today, the Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case.

As reported by the AP, the case won’t be heard until the fall, and it’s unclear how the new administration will approach Tsarnaev’s case.

The initial prosecution and decision to seek a death sentence was made by the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president, they noted.

Senior correspondent for VOX Ian Millhiser said of the news, “SCOTUS will hear the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case. This seems like bad news for opponents of the death penalty.”

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SCOTUS will hear the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case. This seems like bad news for opponents of the death penalty.</p>&mdash; Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) <a href="https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1373991118413701130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>

From the AP:

Biden has pledged to seek an end to the federal death penalty, but he has said nothing about how he plans to do so.

In just over two months in office, the new administration has reversed its predecessor’s position in several high court cases. But the Justice Department has not notified the court of any change in its position in Tsarnaev’s case.

Even if the court were to reinstate the death sentence, nothing would force Biden to schedule an execution date.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not say how Biden or his administration would approach the case at the Supreme Court. “He has grave concerns about whether capital punishment as currently implemented is consistent with the values that are fundamental to our sense of justice and fairness. He has also expressed his horror at the events of that day and Tsarnaev’s actions,” Psaki told reporters.