merits-review

45 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-955 Delmart Ejm Vreeland, III v. Colorado Department of Corrections, et al. Colorado 2026-02-11 Pending constitutional-review due-process fourteenth-amendment jurisdictional-defect merits-review procedural-bar Whether a State violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when it limits a defendant's ability to raise meritorious claims and syste…
25-6722 Joseph James Craver v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, et al. Fifth Circuit 2026-02-04 Pending IFP constitutional-rights habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-counsel merits-review state-proceeding unexhausted-claims Is a defendant constitutionally entitled to have unexhausted claims heard on the merits when not afforded counsel in initial review state habeas corpu…
25-6033 Willie Frank Nelson v. Tanya Demers, Acting Superintendent, Bare Hill Correctional Facility Second Circuit 2025-11-05 Denied IFP appellate-review district-court judicial-discretion merits-review procedural-impediment statute-of-limitations Whether the Second Circuit Court of Appeals abused its discretion by resurrecting a forfeited statute of limitations issue instead of reviewing the di…
24-1034 Ulysses Charles Sneed v. Terry Raybon, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2025-03-28 Denied certificate-of-appealability circuit-split habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance merits-review sixth-amendment Did the court of appeals err in denying petitioner's application for a COA as to his constitutional habeas claims where (i) a circuit judge found that…
24-6515 Joseph T. Shine-Johnson v. Shelbie Smith, Warden Sixth Circuit 2025-02-10 Denied IFP appellate-review habeas-corpus judicial-finality merits-review procedural-grounds rule-60b Whether a petitioner can use Rule 60(b) to gain Relief of Judgment from a legal error that precluded merits review when habeas relief was denied on fl…
24-6370 Anthony Medina v. Eric Guerrero, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2025-01-23 Denied IFP circuit-split federal-habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review state-court-adjudication Whether the Fifth Circuit's interpretation of 'adjudication on the merits' under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) conflicts with Supreme Court precedent in Johnson…
23-7223 Daquan Doral Carter v. United States Fourth Circuit 2024-04-15 Denied Response WaivedIFP appeal-waiver arraignment criminal-procedure district-court due-process merits-review plea-agreement plea-bargaining rule-11 sentencing Can the Government invoke an appeal waiver to preclude merits review of an appeal when the district court failed to specifically question the defendan…
23-682 Alabama v. Marcus Bernard Williams Eleventh Circuit 2023-12-26 GVR Amici (1)Relisted (2) AEDPA-deference habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits merits-review procedural-grounds state-court-adjudication Does a state-court adjudication on the merits lose its entitlement to AEDPA deference if it is affirmed on procedural grounds?
23A496 Moises Sandoval Mendoza v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-12-01 Presumed Complete aedpa circuit-split federal-review habeas-corpus merits-review state-court-decision Whether a state court's decision can be considered an 'adjudication on the merits' under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) when the defendant was denied a full and …
23-5384 Wayne Lee Johnson v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2023-08-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure appellate-review attorney-withdrawal civil-procedure court-discretion due-process judicial-process legal-petition merits-review procedural-issue supreme-court writ-of-certiorari Whether the lower court should have allowed counsel to withdraw from petitioner's appeal, knowing the petitioner had issues of merit for an appeal on …
22-7443 Reno v. Ron Broomfield, Warden Ninth Circuit 2023-05-02 Denied IFP certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights court-of-appeals district-court habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review procedural-default supreme-court-precedent Whether the District Court's plain error in finding Claims 37, 86, 93, 100, and 120 were not raised in the first state habeas corpus petition, and its…
22-7252 Marlon McCay v. Kevin Genovese, Warden Sixth Circuit 2023-04-11 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus judicial-review merits-determination merits-review petition-denial sixth-circuit standard-of-review Did the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals err in denying the petitioner's petitions for a COA and rehearing?
22-6140 Taylor Winston Wright v. United States Ninth Circuit 2022-11-22 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP appellate-review civil-rights constitutional-claim district-court due-process judicial-review merits-review ninth-circuit procedural-violation Can the Ninth Circuit fail to address the merits of a constitutional claim based on a procedural violation the district court adjudicated wrong?
22-5911 Clark Wesley Betts, Jr. v. United States Eighth Circuit 2022-10-26 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-jurisdiction appellate-procedure certificate-of-appealability civil-procedure habeas-corpus judicial-review merits merits-review procedural-order statutory-interpretation Is a certificate of appealability needed to appeal an order unrelated to the merits of a habeas proceeding if that order is part of an order on the me…
22-5657 Dawud Wilson v. Leon Hill, Warden Sixth Circuit 2022-09-22 Denied IFP and thus warrants Petitioner overcoming a state p appellate-analysis constitutional-issue constitutional-review federal-jurisdiction judicial-procedure merits-review plain-error plain-error-analysis state-appeals-court state-procedural-bar Whether the state appeals court's plain-error analysis amounted to a review of the merits, and thus warrants Petitioner overcoming a state procedural …
21-8090 Angelo C. Pearson, II v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2022-06-08 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-claim constitutional-claims equitable-remedies equitable-tolling federal-habeas habeas-corpus merits-review plain-error procedural-default state-prisoner Whether 'extraordinary circumstances' are present when a state prisoner's record shows a constitutional error that meets the federal 'plain error' sta…
21-1351 Don Barnes, Sheriff, Orange County, California, et al. v. Melissa Ahlman, et al. Ninth Circuit 2022-04-14 Denied Response Waived appellate-review judicial-error merits-review miller-v-french mootness preliminary-injunction prison-litigation-reform-act standing supreme-court-stay Whether a preliminary injunction issued under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and stayed by this Honorable Court shall evade appellate review …
21-1197 KK-PB Financial, LLC v. 160 Royal Palm, LLC Eleventh Circuit 2022-03-02 Denied article-iii-jurisdiction bankruptcy bankruptcy-appeals constitutional-mootness equitable-mootness federal-jurisdiction judicial-review live-controversy merits-review Does the dismissal of an appeal of a bankruptcy court confirmation order based on 'equitable mootness' render an appeal from the same case 'constituti…
21-880 Vicki Stefanini v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Ninth Circuit 2021-12-14 Denied Response Waived appellate-rules court-procedure defects dismissal judicial-review legal-interpretation merits-review procedural-technicality rehearing substantial-compliance Whether a technical application of appellate rules should bar a review of the merits of an appellate case, when substantial compliance with the rules …
20-8120 Gary Lee Willingham v. United States Fifth Circuit 2021-05-25 Denied Response WaivedIFP 28-usc-2255 acca-enhancement certificate-of-appealability district-court habeas-corpus jurisdiction merits-review post-conviction section-2255 standard-of-review summary-reversal Whether Mr. Willingham waived his argument that the district court had jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of his § 2255(h) motion
20-8063 Darius Theriot v. Bob Vashaw, Warden Sixth Circuit 2021-05-18 Denied Response RequestedRelisted (2)IFP case-by-case-review constitutional-error federal-constitutional-error federal-habeas-corpus habeas-corpus merits-review plain-error state-court-ruling unpreserved-claim Whether a state court's ruling that an unpreserved claim of federal constitutional error does not meet the requirements of the 'plain error' standard …
20-7863 Martin G. Lewis v. DeWayne Hendrix, Warden Ninth Circuit 2021-04-28 Denied IFP 28-usc-2241 28-usc-2255 burrage-v-united-states detention-legality habeas-corpus jurisdictional-challenge merits-review procedural-bar retroactivity statutory-interpretation Whether the government should be foreclosed from relying on prior litigation that it concedes incorrectly invoked a procedural bar to review on the me…
20-7457 Mark Andrew Morris v. United States Sixth Circuit 2021-03-15 Denied Response WaivedIFP 6th-circuit appellate-review certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus judicial-standard merits-review standard-of-review supreme-court-precedent threshold-inquiry Did the United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit, use an improper and unduly burdensome Certificate of Appealability (COA) standard which conflicts…
20-7262 Melvin Stills v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2021-02-26 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review civil-procedure conflicting-opinions court-opinion due-process judicial-integrity legal-procedure merits-review record-completeness waiver Did the Pennsylvania Superior Court violate the due process rights of the Petitioner when it issued two opinions that conflicted on whether the record…
20-7142 Lewis R. Fox v. David W. Gray, Warden Sixth Circuit 2021-02-12 Denied Response WaivedIFP certificate-of-appealability criminal-procedure due-process felonious-assault habeas-corpus insufficient-evidence merits-review sixth-circuit Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit impose an improper burden and unduly burdensome Certificate of Appealability (COA) standa…
20-7071 Pete Russell v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-02-08 Denied IFP certificate-of-appealability future-dangerousness habeas ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review strickland Did the Court of Appeals err in denying a certificate of appealability, through a merits review, of Russell's claim that he received ineffective assis…
20-5736 David P. Moran v. Florida Florida 2020-09-17 Denied Response WaivedIFP anders-brief appellate-counsel fla-r-app-p-9-141(d) habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance merits-review pro-se-litigant standing writ-of-review Does the United States Supreme Court have the authority to review the underlying merits of an issue when the action being challenged is a petition for…
19-8367 Brandon Blake Coleman v. Texas Texas 2020-04-27 Denied IFP adjudication constitutional-rights due-process federal-claims fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment merits-review standing Whether the State of Texas has violated Petitioner's right to Due Process protections under the Fifth & Fourteenth amendments, U.S. Constitution
19-6488 Javier Yebra v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-11-04 Denied IFP appellate-procedure certificate-of-appealability constitutional-review due-process fifth-circuit habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review standard-of-review supreme-court-precedent trial-counsel Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit continue to impose an improper Certificate of Appealability (COA) standard that contraven…
19-6239 Randell Glen Laws v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-10-10 Denied IFP appellate-jurisdiction appellate-review constitutional-rights due-process federal-courts habeas-corpus judicial-precedent jurisdictional-challenge merits-review procedural-due-process supervisory-power Whether a federal appellate court necessitates the exercise of the Supreme Court's supervisory power when it decides that a petitioner/appellant has n…
19-216 Harold Persaud v. United States Sixth Circuit 2019-08-19 Denied Response Waived certificate-of-appealability criminal-procedure daubert-standard district-court-opinion district-court-review due-process expert-testimony habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judgment-of-conviction merits-review motion-to-vacate standard-of-review Whether Reasonable Jurists Could Debate the Denial of Petitioner's Motion to Vacate and Set Aside his Judgment of Conviction
18-9676 Randy Ethan Halprin v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-06-14 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254(d)(2) aedpa aedpa-deference capital-punishment-eligibility certificate-of-appealability enmund-v-florida habeas-corpus lockett-v-ohio merits-review procedural-default tison-v-arizona Whether the Fifth Circuit contravened this Court's precedents in Buck, Miller-El, and Slack by first deciding the merits of Mr. Halprin's claims befor…
18-9265 Juan Ramon Meza Segundo v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-05-14 Denied IFP aedpa capital-case circuit-split extraordinary-circumstances federal-habeas federal-habeas-proceedings federal-procedure gonzalez-v-crosby habeas-corpus merits-review procedural-defect rule-60(b) rule-60b section-3599 Whether the denial of Section 3599 representation services under the wrong legal standard constitutes a defect in the integrity of the federal habeas …
18-1334 Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, et al. First Circuit 2019-04-24 Judgment Issued Amici (2) appointments-clause article-iv constitutional-law exceptional-importance federal-government-structure federal-officers financial-oversight-and-management-board merits-review oversight-board puerto-rico separation-of-powers supreme-court territorial-government Whether the Appointments Clause governs the appointment of members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
18-8891 Warner Bernard Crider v. United States Sixth Circuit 2019-04-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP §-2255 buck-v-davis certificate-of-appealability due-process habeas-corpus merits-review procedural-review sixth-circuit Was Crider denied a COA improperly, where the Sixth Circuit's decision is contrary to Buck v. Davis?
18-8458 Oniel Winston Scarlett v. United States Eleventh Circuit 2019-03-20 Denied Response WaivedIFP 11th-circuit appellate-review buck-v-davis certificate-of-appealability certificate-of-appealability-coa due-process eleventh-circuit ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-reasoning merits-analysis merits-review reasonable-jurist sentencing Should the Eleventh Circuit provide a sufficient explanation of its order denying a COA in order that a reasonable jurist could ensue its reasoning di…
18-8449 Juan Bustos-Chavez v. Matthew Hansen, Warden, et al. Tenth Circuit 2019-03-19 Denied Response WaivedIFP actual-innocence alibi alibi-evidence due-process federal-courts habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review murray-v-carrier procedural-review Whether the actual innocence exception established by Murray v. Carrier applies to alibi evidence
18-1142 Casimir M. Toczylowski v. Samantha Giuliano, et vir Pennsylvania 2019-03-05 Denied appellate-procedure appellate-procedures appellate-review civil-appeal civil-appeals civil-procedure due-process fourteenth-amendment judicial-review merits-review property-rights state-appeals state-courts Denial of due process in state appellate procedures for civil litigants seeking to vindicate property rights
18-7840 Tommie H. Telfair v. United States Third Circuit 2019-02-07 Denied Response WaivedIFP dismissal-without-merits due-process miranda-v-arizona right-to-remain-silent wiggins-v-smith certificate-of-appealability due-process fundamental-rights judicial-discretion merits-review miranda-rights miranda-v-arizona right-to-remain-silent right-to-silence wiggins-v-smith Whether the lower courts abused their discretion in denying petitioner a certificate of appealability
18-7810 James Traxler v. Sherry Burt, Warden Sixth Circuit 2019-02-07 Denied Response WaivedIFP certificate-of-appealability habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-analysis merits-review sixth-circuit strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether the Sixth Circuit's inquiry in denying petitioner's motion for certificate of appealability was coextensive with a merits analysis
18-7741 Robert Sills v. United States Eighth Circuit 2019-02-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure buck-v-davis certificate-of-appealability civil-procedure due-process habeas-corpus judicial-discretion merits-adjudication merits-review Whether the Court of Appeals' denial of the petitioner's request for a certificate of appealability (COA) was improper"
18-7650 Robert Mitchell Jennings v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-01-30 Denied IFP appellate-review claim-exhaustion exhaustion-doctrine federal-habeas federal-habeas-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel johnson-v-williams judicial-legitimacy judicial-procedure merits-review procedural-default trevino-v-thaler Does a court contravene Johnson v. Williams, 569 U.S. 289 (2013), evade application of Trevino v. Thaler, 569 U.S. 413 (2013), and depart from the acc…
18-6539 Allan Wayne Rencountre v. Colby Braun, Warden Eighth Circuit 2018-11-01 Denied IFP civil-procedure constitutional-rights counsel-ineffectiveness due-process equitable-tolling habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel judicial-discretion merits-review procedural-default statutory-deadline statutory-filing-deadline Should the Court have granted equitable tolling with regards to the statutory filing deadline due to the ineptitude of Petitioner's retained counsel s…
18-6471 Anthony Cardell Haynes v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2018-10-29 Denied IFP civil-rights due-process extraordinary-circumstances fifth-circuit-review finality gonzalez-v-crosby habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel martinez merits-review rule-60(b) rule-60b strickland substantiality trevino-standard Whether the Fifth Circuit erred in finding no 'extraordinary circumstances' and that the ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim was not 'substa…
18-5015 Edwin Aponte v. Eric Tice, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Smithfield, et al. Third Circuit 2018-06-28 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights confrontation-clause due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel merits-review procedural-default prosecutorial-misconduct self-defense sixth-amendment state-appellate-procedure Was petitioner's prosecutorial misconduct claim procedurally defaulted for failing to present it in state appellate procedure when the highest state c…