Relist watch
on Apr 2, 2013 at 1:05 pm
John Elwood reviews Monday’s relisted cases.
With even the most stalwart of those gathered to observe last week’s festivities filtering away from One First Street, it’s shaping up as a mercifully quiet week in Lake Wobegon.
For those of you who think that these missives are like watching (a third coat of beige) paint dry, at least it’s finally dry: After a total of eight relists stretching back to January 4, the Court summarily reversed in Marshall v. Rodgers, 12-382. While some may claim to have foreseen this outcome, six-plus relists is usually about the point at which the Court makes me look like a pinhead by granting (think Bond v. United States, 12-158, or the recently decided Comcast v. Behrend, 11-864). The Court held that giving trial courts discretion over a criminal defendant’s post-waiver request for counsel is not contrary to or an unreasonable application of clearly established law, as determined by the Supreme Court, under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). The Court concluded the Ninth Circuit erred in granting relief to the vacillating Mr. Rodgers by relying on court of appeals cases to “gloss” Supreme Court precedent. However, perhaps indicating one of the left-leaning Justices had a hand in its writing (if only as a commenter), the Court cautioned that its opinion should not be read to imply that the underlying constitutional question “would be insubstantial” on direct review.
Last week’s other recidivists are back for another dip in the cert. pool: the Ninth Circuit state-on-top habeas case (and three-time relist) Nevada v. Jackson, 12-694; and the Establishment Clause challenge to a school district’s decision to hold its graduation ceremonies in a local church auditorium (and two-time relist), Elmbrook School District v. Doe, 12-755.
The only “new” offering is a pair of petitions discussed back in October: another Ninth Circuit state-on-top habeas case, Chappell v. Phillips, 12-544, and its prisoner-on-top doppelganger, Phillips v. Chappell, 12-5890. The Court called for the record back on February 20, and the final portion arrived on March 4. Applying pre-AEDPA law, the Ninth Circuit held that the prosecution violated Mr. Phillips’s due process rights by withholding information material to a special-circumstances finding. In particular, the prosecutor told the jury that a government witness had received no promise of benefit from her testimony, but had in fact reached an immunity agreement with the witness’s lawyer (while forbidding that lawyer from disclosing the agreement to the witness until after her testimony). Although a first relist often increases the chance of a grant, the fact that the Court called for the record back in February may suggest a writing of some sort is in the works. Keen-eyed observers will note that the panels in Rodgers, Jackson, and the Phillips cases have some overlap.
One other development not really involving a relist: as we’ve noted previously, there is a big knot of over one hundred cases out of the Florida courts stemming from the Florida Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling in State v. Atkins, upholding the constitutionality of a statutory amendment removing knowledge of the nature of a substance as an element of the crime of possession of an illegal substance and creating instead an affirmative defense that the defendant lacked knowledge. The state (and its subdivisions) mostly waived response, but the Court called for a response and later requested the record in some cases; the response arrived January 28 and the record arrived March 19. It appears those cases are now on for the April 12 Conference, so we should soon be closer to knowing how the Court will handle those.
That’s it for now. With more pressing matters at hand, the Court won’t be Conferencing again until April 12. You might still waste your time, but you won’t have my help doing it.
Thanks to Jeremy Marwell and Conor McEvily for compiling and drafting this update.
[page]12-544 [/page] (relisted after the March 29 Conference)
[page]12-755 [/page] (relisted after the March 22 and March 29 Conferences)
[page]12-694 [/page] (relisted after the March 15, March 22, and March 29 Conferences)
[page]12-5890[/page]
