The U.S. Supreme Court recently handed down a smattering of criminal justice-related decisions. Although those decisions will have differing influence on the criminal justice system, it is important to note two recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions that will have an impact as well.

The U.S. Supreme Court cases that grabbed the headlines were the Obamacare decision and the same-sex marriage decision. Both cases may have enhanced the legacy of President Obama, but as Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken summed it up in POLITICO Magazine, “Behind each of the high-profile cases … the country had already made the shift.” Neither decision was any great surprise.

With regard to the high court's treatment of criminal justice matters—still no surprises. The case generating the most attention was out of Oklahoma. In that case, the Supreme Court revisited the issue of lethal injection.