The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld a longstanding rule stating that prosecuting someone separately in state and then federal court for the same crime does not violate a defendant’s protection against double jeopardy. Americans have long understood that they have a right against being tried twice for the same crime, but since the mid-19th century that protection has only applied within the same sovereign legal system, such as a state court or federal court. The nine justices ruled in the case of Terance Gamble, who as a man convicted of robbery in Alabama in 2008 lost his right to own a gun.
