U.S. Supreme Court sides with doctors challenging opioid convictions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave two doctors found guilty of misusing their licenses in the midst of the U.S. opioid epidemic to write thousands of prescriptions for addictive pain medications another chance to challenge their convictions. The justices ruled 9-0 in favor of Xiulu Ruan and Shakeel Kahn, who had argued in appealing their convictions that their trials were unfair because jurors were not required to consider whether the two physicians had "good faith" reasons to believe their numerous opioid prescriptions were medically valid. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said that once defendants produce evidence that they were authorized to dispense controlled substances like opioids, prosecutors must prove they knew they were acting in an unauthorized manner.