This week we highlight three cert petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address the use of a 2017 Supreme Court decision, Moore v. Texas, to find that a state court in 2008 unreasonably applied Atkins v. Virginia; criminal convictions requiring removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act; and crimes that qualify as a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16(a).
The petitions of the week are:
Issue: Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit properly used Moore v. Texas, a Supreme Court decision from 2017, to find that an Ohio court unreasonably applied Atkins v. Virginia in 2008, despite the Ohio court’s reliance on the clinical judgments of experts to find that Hill was not intellectually disabled.
Issue: Whether a criminal conviction bars a noncitizen from applying for relief from removal when the record of conviction is merely ambiguous as to whether it corresponds to an offense listed in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Issue: Whether, when a state statute criminalizes only the causation or threat of bodily harm without a distinct element requiring the use or threatened use of physical force, that offense qualifies as a crime of violence within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 16(a) as the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the 7th, 8th and 9th Circuits have held, or whether 18 U.S.C. § 16(a) applies only if the statute also requires the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 2nd and 5th Circuits have held.
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