Supreme Court Imposes Limitations on Appellate Waivers in Plea Bargains
In an 8-1 decision last week, the Supreme Court in the case of Hunter v. United States , 608 U.S. _ (2026) ruled that "an agreement not to appeal a sentence is unenforceable when it would result in a miscarriage of justice — meaning, when it would leave in place the kind of egregious error that would bring the judicial system into disrepute." As noted in an earlier post , the Plea Bargaining Institute filed an amicus in the case arguing for the imposition of limitations and guardrails on plea bargaining practices. The PBI wrote, "the imposition of limitations and guardrails for plea bargaining practices is vital to the establishment of an accurate, just, and constitutional plea bargaining system." The Court did exactly this in creating a new limitation on appellate waivers. While Justice Kagan’s opinion for the Court focused on the narrow issue presented, it is worth note that Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Sotomayor and Justice Jackson, took the opportunity...