Kent S. Scheidegger

Kent Scheidegger has been the Legal Director of the CJLF since December 1986. He has written over 150 briefs in cases in the United States Supreme Court. He is the Past Chairman of the Criminal Law and Procedure Practice Group of the Federalist Society and has served on the group’s executive committee since 1996. His articles on criminal and constitutional law have been published in law reviews, national legal publications and Congressional reports. His legal arguments have been incorporated in several precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

After receiving a degree in physics with honors from New Mexico State University in 1976, Mr. Scheidegger served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer.

He took his law degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1982 and practiced civil law in Northern California. He was general counsel of California Cooler, Inc. from 1984 until 1986, when he joined CJLF.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND CASES

Sentence Length and Recidivism: A Review of the Research, 35 Fed. Sent. Rep. 59 (2022)
Rebutting the Myths About Race and the Death Penalty, 10 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 147 (2012)
Habeas Corpus, Relitigation, and the Legislative Power, 98 Colum.L.Rev. 888 (1998)
Overdue Process: A Study of Federal Habeas Corpus in Capital Cases and a Proposal for Reform (1995)
A Guide to Regulating Panhandling (1993)
Rethinking Habeas Corpus (1989)
Capital Punishment in 1987: The Puzzle Nears Completion, 15 West.St.L.Rev. 95 (1987)
Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467 (1991)
Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991)
Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (2000)
Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343 (2003)
Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426 (2004)
Cullen v. Pinholster, 563 U.S. 170 (2011)
Jones v. Hendrix, 143 S. Ct. 1857 (2023)