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State Habeas Relief For Federal Extrajudicial Detainees, Todd E. Pettys
State Habeas Relief For Federal Extrajudicial Detainees, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
I argue that the Court’s nineteenth-century rulings in Ableman v. Booth and Tarble’s Case marked a little-known but sharp break with state courts’ decades-long practice of granting habeas relief to federal extrajudicial detainees. I contend that the Court’s reasoning in those cases is unpersuasive, and that modern efforts to rationalize those cases’ outcomes fare no better. I also argue that the Suspension Clause bars Congress from stripping state courts of their power to grant habeas relief to persons being extrajudicially detained by federal authorities.
Killing Roger Coleman: Habeas, Finality, And The Innocence Gap, Todd E. Pettys
Killing Roger Coleman: Habeas, Finality, And The Innocence Gap, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
For the past fifteen years, the execution of Roger Coleman has served as perhaps the most infamous illustration of the U.S. Supreme Court’s determination to help the states achieve finality in their criminal cases. Convicted of rape and murder in 1982, Coleman steadfastly maintained his innocence and drew many supporters to his cause. In its 1991 ruling in Coleman v. Thompson, however, the Court refused to consider the constitutional claims raised in Coleman’s habeas petition. The Court ruled that Coleman had forfeited his right to seek habeas relief when, in prior state proceedings, his attorneys mistakenly filed their notice of …
Federal Habeas Relief And The New Tolerance For "Reasonably Erroneous" Applications Of Federal Law, Todd E. Pettys
Federal Habeas Relief And The New Tolerance For "Reasonably Erroneous" Applications Of Federal Law, Todd E. Pettys
Todd E. Pettys
In Williams v. Taylor and Ramdass v. Angelone, the United States Supreme Court confronted one of the core provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and confirmed what some had hoped and others had feared: A federal court may no longer grant habeas relief merely because it concludes that a state court erroneously applied federal law when it rejected a state prisoner’s federal constitutional claim. Instead, a federal court must deny habeas relief to a state prisoner whose federal constitutional rights have been violated and whose requests for relief have been erroneously denied by a state …