Amicus Announcements from September 2026 to August 2027

From time to time, the Supreme Judicial Court solicits amicus ("friend of the court") briefs or memoranda from parties not directly involved in a case, but that may have an interest or opinion about a case pending before the court.

File an Amicus Brief

Amicus briefs must comply with the requirements of Rules 17, 19, and 20 of the Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure. In order to assist the court, amicus briefs should focus on the ramifications of a decision and not solely on the interests of amici.

Interested parties may file their briefs in the Supreme Judicial Court Clerk's Office for the Commonwealth.

September 2026

SJC-14003
Commonwealth vs. Robert W. Albert

Whether the trial judge abused her discretion by admitting one of the victim’s diary entries as first complaint evidence. 

SJC-14005
Commonwealth vs. Alexander Rentas

1. Whether the motion judge erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress the victim’s showup identification, and if so, whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, where the showup procedure was conducted in the presence of police and in proximity to the victim’s stolen property.
2. Whether the evidence offered at trial was legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was the individual who perpetrated the home invasion and the armed robbery.

SJC-14006
Commonwealth vs. Manuel Brunette-Silveira

Whether the evidence offered at a bench trial was legally insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was criminally responsible at the time of the offenses, where the defendant offered uncontested expert testimony that the defendant was experiencing substantial impairments in his ability to control his behavior during the relevant time period and there was limited evidence as to the defendant’s actions and demeanor during certain portions of the episode, but where the trial judge expressly rejected the defendant’s expert testimony.