This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 7-1 decision in Nelson v. Colorado, striking down a Colorado law that forced people to go to court to affirmatively prove their own innocence in order to recover funds paid as a result of a criminal conviction, after the conviction was reversed on appeal. The Court found this scheme unconstitutional because requiring people to prove their own innocence disregards the presumption of innocence.

Robert Everett Johnson, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, which submitted an amicus brief in the case highlighting the importance of the presumption of innocence, issued the following statement: