Brief filed: 06/30/2025
Documents
Ellingburg v. United States
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 24-482
Argument(s)
The question presented is whether criminal restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) is penal for purposes of the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As the majority of the courts of appeals to address the issue and the Department of Justice have recognized, it is. This brief further underscores the correctness of that conclusion by drawing attention to restitution’s significant collateral consequences that penalize individuals in ways that constitute criminal punishment—not mere civil compensation.
Author(s)
Jeffrey T. Green, NACDL, Washington, DC; Shanna Rifkin, FAMM, Washington, DC; Lauren Willard Zehmer, Abby Wright, Hassan Ahmad, James Fitch, and Chrissy Houle, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC