Petitions to Watch | Conference of 6.3.10

This edition of “Petitions to Watch” features cases up for consideration at the Justices’ next private conference, Thursday, June 3.  As always, it lists the petitions on the Court’s paid docket that Tom has deemed to have a reasonable chance of being granted.  Links to all previous editions are available in our SCOTUSwiki archive.

Title: School District of the City of Pontiac v. Duncan
Docket: 09-852
Issue: Whether Congress provided the required clear and unambiguous notice that the acceptance by states and school districts of funds under the No Child Left Behind Act is conditioned upon an obligation that they spend their own funds and incur costs to comply with requirements of the Act even if the federal funding provided under the Act falls far short of paying for the costs of satisfying those requirements.

• Opinion below (6th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners’ reply

Title: Jones v. Williams
Docket: 09-948
Issue: Whether the Tenth Circuit violated 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) by granting habeas relief for ineffective assistance of counsel during plea bargain negotiations to a defendant who was later convicted and sentenced in a fair trial, on the ground that the remedy the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals gave to the defendant was constitutionally inadequate, given that the Supreme Court has not clearly established what remedy, if any, is appropriate for ineffective assistance of counsel in such a case.

• Opinion below (10th Circuit, rehearing denied)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply

The Court has re-listed the following cases from previous editions of Petitions to Watch for the conference of June 3, 2010.  If any other petitions are redistributed between now and the conference, we will add them below as soon as their redistribution is noted on the docket.

• Shabaz v. United States (09-636): originally conference of 3.5.10
• Juvenile Male v. United States (09-940): originally conference of 5.13.10