The Constitution and the Insanity Defense: Via SCOTUSblog, I learn that the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a very interesting criminal law case, Clark v. Arizona, Case No. 05-5966, which considers the constitutionality of a 1993 Arizona state law that limits the scope of the insanity defense. Lyle Denniston summarizes:

  The first issue in the case . . . is whether the Constitution requires states to allow an individual to claim that, because of mental defect, he could not know the nature and quality of the crime he is accused of committing. Arizona eliminated that aspect of the insanity defense, permitting individuals only to claim that a mental defect kept them from knowing right from wrong.
  The appeal involves an Arizona youth who, at age 17, shot and killed a police officer who had stopped him for loudly playing the radio on his car. Eric Michael Clark contends he was mentally ill at the time of the incident. "This Court," his appeal argues, "has never addressed this issue, and never held that a state may, consistent with due process, abolish the insanity defense as it existed at common law."

  The opinion below was decided by the Arizona Court of Appeals, at least according to the Court's docket sheet, but I don't think it was published.

Unpublished Opinion in Insanity Defense Case: Thanks to reader Keith Hilzendeger, we now have a copy of the unpublished Arizona Court of Appeals opinion that the Supreme Court agreed to review today to determine the constitutional status of the insanity defense. (Keith works near the courthouse, and took some time during his lunch hour to get the opinion and send it on.) I have posted the 21-page opinion in State v. Clark here (.pdf). The relevant part of the opinion is found on pages 15-18.