Timothy O'Toole was quoted regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Luis v. United States, finding that the government cannot freeze a defendant's untainted assets if that pretrial lockdown effectively prevents the defendant from hiring a lawyer. "This is really a big deal because of the damage it would've done had the court gone the other way," O'Toole said. "Instead, a strong five-member majority of the court, for the first time in its history, has held that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel of choice includes a component that prevents the forfeiture of untainted assets." Behind the ruling were some unusual ideological pairings. It's not every day that you see the Chief Justice championing a strong Sixth Amendment right and then have Justice Kagan on the opposing side, O'Toole added.

This article appeared in BNA Criminal Law Reporter on April 6, 2016 and in BNA's Health Law Reporter on April 7, 2016. The article also appeared in BNA's Health Care Fraud Report on April 12, 2016 with the title "SCOTUS Rejects Pretrial Freeze on Untainted Assets in Medicare Case."