United States v. Joseph M. Margiotta

KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge:

For more than a century after the founding of the Republic, the permissible scope of government appeals from adverse rulings in criminal cases was not in dispute. Independent of the double jeopardy provision of the Constitution, early common law did not provide a right of appeal for the Government in criminal cases. 1 Beginning in 1907, federal enactments authorized Government appeals in limited circumstances. 2 Despite this, courts generally made clear their disposition to interpret statutory authority strictly against the right to appeal. 3 The subsequent decades-long…