Do Texas procedures for postconviction habeas corpus violate the Sixth Amendment and deny indigent prisoners equal protection and due process of law by foreclosing to them any meaningful opportunity to litigate their ineffective assistance of counsel claims?

QUESTION PRESENTED It is “virtually impossible” to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel on direct appeal in Texas. Trevino v. Thaler, 569 U.S. 413, 417 (2013). The only alternative to the impossible appeal is the state’s all-or-nothing postconviction application for habeas corpus. Most habeas applicants are indigent prisoners. These applicants have neither the right to an attorney nor a right to a hearing—nor even a right to their trial court record—and no realistic way to investigate their potential claims from behind bars. The question presented is: Do Texas procedures for postconviction habeas corpus violate the Sixth Amendment and deny indigent prisoners equal protection and due process of law by foreclosing to them any meaningful opportunity to litigate their ineffective assistance of counsel claims? i