state-court-decision

50 cases — ← All topics

Case Title Lower Court Docketed Status Flags Tags Question Presented
25-725 Edward Weinhaus v. Regina A. Scannicchio, Judge, Circuit Court of Illinois, Cook County, et al. Seventh Circuit 2025-12-19 Pending Response Waived district-court-jurisdiction federal-lawsuit jurisdictional-challenge merits-dismissal rooker-feldman-doctrine state-court-decision Whether the District Court is precluded from exercising jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine when Petitioner's injury occurred prior to the …
25-5876 William Housman v. Laurel Harry, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, et al. Third Circuit 2025-10-14 Denied IFP appellate-procedure certificate-of-appealability federal-constitutional-claim judicial-review reasonable-jurists state-court-decision Does a state court's divided decision on the merits of a federal constitutional claim demonstrate that reasonable jurists would debate the claim's mer…
25-5073 William Menter v. New Jersey New Jersey 2025-07-10 Denied Response WaivedIFP cronic-standard due-process illegal-sentence ineffective-assistance state-court-decision strickland-standard Whether the state court's decision on Appellant's Illegal Sentence claims was contrary to State v. Yarbough and whether the Appellant's due process ri…
24-7049 Michael Fimbres v. O'Brian Bailey, Acting Warden Ninth Circuit 2025-04-22 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-review federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-decision statutory-interpretation Did the Ninth Circuit step outside the bounds of § 2254(d) by considering reasons not found in the CCA's reasoned opinion to determine the reasonablen…
23-7465 Tremane Wood v. Christe Quick, Warden Tenth Circuit 2024-05-13 Denied IFP federal-habeas federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance rule-60b state-court-decision state-postconviction strickland-standard strickland-v-washington tenth-circuit Whether a federal habeas court's failure to review the last reasoned state court decision under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) is a defect under Rule 60(b)
23-6894 Tyler A. Gonzales, fka Tyler A. Montour v. Cheryl Eplett, Warden Seventh Circuit 2024-03-05 Denied Response WaivedIFP federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel professional-norms state-court-decision strickland-standard strickland-v-washington unreasonable-application unreasonable-determination-of-facts Did the Seventh Circuit err when it reviewed the merits of Gonzales's claim de novo, did not analyze the particular reasons the Wisconsin court provid…
23-6650 Pablo Guzman v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2024-02-01 Denied IFP appellate-review constitutional-prejudice federal-habeas-corpus habeas-corpus jury-instruction lockhart-precedent lockhart-v-fretwell prejudice state-court-decision supreme-court-precedent Does Lockhart v. Fretwell prevent federal habeas corpus relief despite prejudice when Supreme Court precedent at trial was not clearly inconsistent wi…
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 …
23-6146 Catherine Denise Randolph v. United States District Court for the District of Maryland Fourth Circuit 2023-12-01 Denied IFP appellate-review civil-rights constitutional-review criminal-procedure due-process free-speech harmless-error ineffective-assistance obscenity standing state-court-decision surveillance Whether the 'Miller test' to prove obscenity violates the First Amendment
23-31 Willie James Pye v. Shawn Emmons, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2023-07-11 Denied aedpa eleventh-circuit federal-habeas federal-review habeas-corpus state-court-decision state-court-deference statutory-interpretation wilson-v-sellers Whether the Eleventh Circuit's novel construction of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) is inconsistent with the statutory text and in direct conflict with this Cour…
22-7722 Félix Vega-La Torres v. United States First Circuit 2023-06-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP ancestry constitutional-rights criminal-sentencing Does the State Court Decision to deny Petitioner's due-process economic-status equal-justice equal-protection 22-7721" ethnicity federal-prosecution federal-questions guidelines-interpretation judicial-bias national-origin petition-for-appeal puerto-rico-defendants race reversible-error sentencing-discrimination state-court-decision Does a federal judge's increased sentence targeting a Puerto Rico defendant for higher punishment violate constitutional, statutory, and guidelines pr…
22-7721 William Whittman v. Prime Autotech, Inc., et al. Virginia 2023-06-06 Denied Response WaivedIFP appeal civil-procedure due-process equal-justice equal-protection federal-questions petition-for-appeal reversible-error state-court state-court-decision Does the State Court Decision to deny Petitioner's Petition for Appeal on 2/27/23 on grounds that no reversible error occurred in the lower court viol…
22-7274 Jorge Galeas, Jr. v. Adam Gibson, et al. Fourth Circuit 2023-04-13 Denied IFP 10th-amendment civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-claim due-process equal-protection federal-jurisdiction habeas-corpus independent-state-ground procedural-default state-court-decision strickler-v-greene Whether the United States District Court violated the claimant's inalienable rights to due process and equal protection under the law within the meani…
22-7244 Jose Ramon Cruz v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2023-04-10 Denied IFP certificate-of-appealability federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel plea-bargaining sixth-amendment state-court-decision state-court-deference strickland strickland-standard Whether the 'could have supported' framework of Harrington v. Richter allows a federal court to 'invent' historical facts not relied upon by the state…
22-6629 Keith Edmund Gavin v. John Q. Hamm, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2023-01-26 Denied IFP aedpa aedpa-deference federal-constitutional-claim habeas habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance state-court-decision state-court-review state-law-evidentiary-rule strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether AEDPA deference applies to state-court reasoning not articulated in the decision
22-6509 Roosevelt Mondesir v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2023-01-11 Denied Response WaivedIFP §2254-petition 28-usc-2254 federal-habeas federal-review habeas-corpus judicial-interpretation reasonableness-review state-court-decision state-court-decisions wilson-v-sellers Did the 11th U.S. Circuit Court err in interpreting Wilson v. Sellers to allow federal habeas courts to consider justifications not provided by the st…
22-6119 Jaques Fearence v. Brenda M. Cash, Warden Ninth Circuit 2022-11-21 Denied Response WaivedIFP abuse-of-discretion attorney-abandonment civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-standard due-process federal-review habeas-corpus standing state-court-decision Whether the U.S. District Court abused its discretion by denying the Rule 60(b)(6) motion based on the unreasonable application of the constitutional …
22-282 Randall Pavlock, et al. v. Eric J. Holcomb, Governor of Indiana, et al. Seventh Circuit 2022-09-26 Denied Amici (3)Response Waived fifth-amendment fourteenth-amendment injunctive-relief judicial-taking property-rights standing state-court-decision takings Whether a 'judicial taking' under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments is a cognizable cause of action
22-5339 Maria Navarro Martin v. United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida Eleventh Circuit 2022-08-11 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-procedure civil-procedure civil-rights due-process federal-law federal-review habeas-corpus legal-precedent post-conviction-relief standing state-court-decision state-law Whether the court erred in declaring the federal law 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(4) and the Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.430(b) invalid
21-6776 Wesley R. Carey v. Illinois Illinois 2022-01-07 Denied Response WaivedIFP 14th-amendment 5th-amendment constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process fourteenth-amendment ineffective-assistance michigan-v-mosley post-conviction-relief self-incrimination state-court-decision Has the State of Illinois altered a decision in conflict with the decision in United States Supreme Court case, Michigan v. Mosley, thereby, violating…
21-6138 Armando B. Cortinas, Jr. v. Jo Gentry, et al. Ninth Circuit 2021-11-01 Denied IFP Brecht-v-Abrahamson confession constitutional-error federal-habeas federal-review felony-murder habeas-corpus harmless-error premeditation-and-deliberation section-2254 state-court-decision Whether the state court's harmless error determination was unreasonable under 28-U.S.C-2254(d)(1)-and-(2)
21-5837 Carlos Amezcua v. Joe A. Lizarraga, Warden, et al. Ninth Circuit 2021-09-30 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review child-molestation corpus-delicti due-process insufficient-evidence jackson-standard jackson-v-virginia state-court-decision Can appellant be convicted of three charges of child molestation when the testimony received in trial was totally and materially different than the th…
21-5526 Duane Kelly v. Steven Johnson, Administrator, New Jersey State Prison Third Circuit 2021-09-01 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-procedure district-court-review double-jeopardy due-process evidentiary-hearing inconsistent-verdict inconsistent-verdicts post-conviction-relief reasonable-jurist state-court-decision Was the district court's findings that the state court reasonably applied the inconsistent verdict law in this case correct?
21-5460 Joe Michael Luna v. Bobby Lumpkin, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2021-08-24 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 circuit-split clearly-established-law federal-law federal-review habeas-corpus habeas-review state-court-decision statutory-interpretation wilson-v-sellers Under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) and Wilson v. Sellers, is a habeas court's review limited to the state court's reasons or can it consider other reasons?
20-7847 Phillip Minor v. Renee Baker, Warden, et al. Ninth Circuit 2021-04-26 Denied Response WaivedIFP due-process federal-law habeas-corpus new-intervening-judgment state-court-decision statute-of-limitations Did the Ninth Circuit err by not 'second guessing' the decision of the state court as to the timing of Mr. Minor's petition, when the state court deci…
20-7487 Rodarius Grimes v. Alabama Alabama 2021-03-18 Denied IFP civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-provisions due-process federalism jurisdictional-issue legal-conflict preemption standing state-court-decision supreme-court-law Whether the state court decision was/is in direct conflict with clearly established law as determined from the U.S. Supreme Court?
20-7336 Donovan Jonathan Tillman v. Florida Florida 2021-03-05 Denied Response WaivedIFP constitutional-rights courtroom-access criminal-procedure due-process evidentiary-hearing pretrial-hearing public-trial-clause sixth-amendment state-court-decision witness-exclusion Did the state court, contrary to rulings of this Court and of the supreme and intermediate appellate courts of other states, violate the Public Trial …
20-6972 Mark Allen Jenkins v. Jefferson S. Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2021-01-28 Denied Amici (2)IFP aedpa atkins-standard atkins-v-virginia circuit-court-methodology circuit-split comity federal-review habeas-corpus intellectual-disability state-court-decision Whether the Eleventh Circuit's failure to limit its review of a reasoned state-court decision under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) to the specific reasons given …
20-913 Joseph Wilborn v. Alex Jones, Acting Warden Seventh Circuit 2021-01-08 Denied Response Waived circuit-split federal-habeas federal-review habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel jury-instructions sixth-amendment state-court-decision strickland-standard strickland-v-washington Whether a federal court is bound only by the decisions of the Supreme Court in determining whether a state court has unreasonably applied clearly esta…
20-15 Pennymac Financial Services, Inc., et al. v. Erich Heidrich, et al. Ninth Circuit 2020-07-10 Denied Response Waived 28-usc-1738 enforcement-of-agreement fair-labor-standards-act federal-arbitration-act federal-substantive-law individualized-arbitration state-court-decision state-law statutory-interpretation Whether the Federal Arbitration Act requires enforcement of an arbitration agreement as applied to Fair Labor Standards Act claims where the parties' …
19-8451 Michael Skinner v. Raymond Madden, Warden Ninth Circuit 2020-05-13 Denied Response WaivedIFP appellate-review due-process factual-determination habeas-corpus judicial-review procedural-default state-court-decision state-court-review trial-record Is a State Court Decision an Unreasonable Determination of the facts When it Determines That a Claim Was not Sufficiently Developed in the Record for …
19-8413 Troy Pope v. Jefferson S. Dunn, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2020-05-07 Denied Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP 28-usc-2254 actual-innocence cause-and-prejudice federal-law-application federal-state-comity habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel procedural-default state-court-decision Whether the Alabama state courts and federal district court unreasonably applied clearly established federal law in denying habeas relief to the petit…
19-8042 Lewis Taylor Jr. v. Florida Florida 2020-03-19 Denied Response WaivedIFP aedpa constitutional-claim constitutional-claims eighth-amendment federal-habeas federal-habeas-review merits-decision state-court-decision state-court-decisions state-court-interpretation supreme-court-review Whether the Florida Supreme Court erred in treating Virginia v. LeBlanc, 137 S. Ct. 1726 (2017) (per curiam), a case arising under federal habeas revi…
19-7533 Allan Leslie Sinanan, Jr. v. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 2020-02-04 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights constitutional-rights due-process federal-law fourth-amendment law-enforcement search-and-seizure state-court state-court-decision unreasonable-application Whether Law Enforcement Authorities engaged in tactics and procedures designed to circumvent Petitioner's Constitutional protected rights guaranteed b…
19-7192 Keith Edward Walker v. Ronda Pash, Warden Eighth Circuit 2020-01-07 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 appellate-review civil-procedure civil-rights clearly-established-law due-process equal-protection federal-jurisdiction federal-review finality-of-judgment habeas-corpus standing state-court-decision statute-of-limitations Does the reamme of 28 U.S.C. 2244(d) and (p) create ambiguity in 28 U.S.C. 2244(d)(1) regarding the one-year period of litigation
19-6412 Dennis Jones v. Arizona Arizona 2019-10-28 Denied IFP appellate-review civil-procedure conflict-with-precedent constitutional-interpretation due-process essential-elements-of-crime federal-jurisdiction federal-question judicial-review precedent-conflict right-to-counsel standing state-court-decision supreme-court supreme-court-procedure Whether the state court decided a federal question in a way that conflicts with this Court's precedent on the right to counsel and due process
19-6203 Eric Christopher Barrass v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al. Eleventh Circuit 2019-10-08 Denied IFP chambers-v-mississippi constitutional-law double-jeopardy due-process federal-courts federal-review green-v-georgia habeas-corpus standard-of-review state-court-decision state-courts third-party-confession Whether the Eleventh Circuit erred in applying 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) to the state appellate court's unexplained decision, rather than 'looking through' …
19-6102 Roosevelt Brian Moore v. Debbie Asuncion, Warden Ninth Circuit 2019-10-01 Denied Response WaivedIFP civil-rights constitutional-challenge court-review due-process graham-v-florida habeas-corpus juvenile-offenders legal-standards prisoner-rights resentencing sentencing sentencing-procedure standing state-court-decision Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit should grant petitioner's certificate of appealability pursuant to Miller v. Cockrell, 537 U.S…
19-5438 Jimmy Fletcher Meders v. Benjamin Ford, Warden Eleventh Circuit 2019-08-02 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 anti-flyspecking-rule circuit-court-procedure clearly-established-law eleventh-circuit federal-court-deference federal-review habeas habeas-corpus habeas-corpus-review section-2254 standard-of-review state-court-decision state-court-deference wilson-v-sellers Whether the Eleventh Circuit's adherence to its 'no-grading-papers-anti-flyspecking-rule' is incompatible with Wilson-v-Sellers
18-8419 Fabian Hernandez v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-03-13 Denied IFP 28-usc-2254 criminal-procedure due-process federal-courts federal-habeas federal-review habeas-corpus judicial-review reasoned-decision standard-of-review state-court-decision state-courts statutory-interpretation unreasonableness-test Whether, in the face of a reasoned state court decision, a federal habeas court applies the unreasonableness test of 28 USC §2254(d)(1) to the specifi…
18-8341 Louie M. Schexnayder, Jr. v. Darrel Vannoy, Warden Fifth Circuit 2019-03-08 Denied Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (9)IFP aedpa-deference judicial-federalism judicial-proceedings judicial-review pecuniary-interest prisoner-rights pro-se-petition pro-se-prisoners state-court-decision statutory-interpretation supervisory-power writ-application writ-applications Could jurists of reason debate whether to apply AEDPA deference to a state court decision arising out of a secret, thirteen-year-long policy to deny a…
18-1021 Travis Hawkins v. Mark S. Inch, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections Eleventh Circuit 2019-02-05 Denied Response Waived appellate-review criminal-procedure due-process federal-court federal-courts habeas-corpus judicial-review preservation-of-error public-trial state-court state-court-decision state-courts Whether an objection is required to preserve appellate review for an alleged public trial violation
18-7632 Abraham Grant v. Wendy Kelly, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction Arkansas 2019-01-29 Denied Response WaivedIFP criminal-procedure double-jeopardy due-process felony-conviction habeas-corpus prosecutorial-discretion speedy-trial standing state-court-decision Whether the state court's denial of a motion to dismiss a felony charge that was never prosecuted violates the petitioner's due process rights
18-7326 Mark Anthony Soliz v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division Fifth Circuit 2019-01-11 Denied IFP certiorari-standard due-process federal-habeas-review federal-jurisdiction fifth-circuit-review habeas-corpus judicial-interpretation plain-statement-rule procedural-default state-court-decision state-court-determination state-court-proceedings Whether this Court should grant certiorari to remand this case to the Fifth Circuit because the Fifth Circuit misapplied this Court's 'plain statement…
18-656 Johnathan Hall, Director, Kentucky Department of Corrections, Division of Probation and Parole v. William O. Ayers Sixth Circuit 2018-11-21 Denied 28-usc-2254 experienced-criminal-defense-attorney experienced-criminal-trial-attorney federal-habeas-review federal-review habeas-corpus right-to-counsel sixth-amendment state-court-decision uncounseled-defendant waiver Was federal habeas relief improperly granted when, without basis in this Court's clearly established precedent, the federal court disregarded the dete…
18-6753 Jesse Mendez v. Gary Swarthout, Warden, et al. Ninth Circuit 2018-11-20 Denied Response WaivedIFP 28-usc-2254 28-usc-2255 district-court federal-review habeas-corpus habeas-petition harrington-v-richter judicial-deference reasoned-decision state-appellate-court state-court state-court-decision statutory-interpretation When a state court denied a habeas claim without a reasoned decision, can the district court reject the state appellate court's clear statement that i…
18-6643 Sobhy Fahmy Amin Iskander v. United States District Court for the Central District of California, et al. Ninth Circuit 2018-11-08 Denied IFP civil-rights constitutional-rights due-process judicial-competence judicial-discretion judicial-ethics judicial-independence judicial-interpretation judicial-review legal-standards rule-of-law state-court-decision Whether the state court decision is contrary to federal law based on the principle of an independent, fair, and competent judiciary
18-5687 Brian Kerry O'Keefe v. Renee Baker, Warden, et al. Nevada 2018-08-23 Denied IFP civil-rights collateral-review due-process federal-review habeas-corpus liberty-interest procedural-default standing state-court-decision state-court-proceedings statutory-interpretation supreme-court-precedent time-bar Whether rights generated by federal procedural and substantive due-process prohibit the state from concluding direct review
18-5274 Manuel Vega v. United States Ninth Circuit 2018-07-19 Denied Response WaivedIFP california-health-and-safety-code-11378 categorical-approach controlled-substance controlled-substance-offense criminal-conviction divisible-statute drug-offense federal-sentencing federal-sentencing-guideline mathis-v-united-states modified-categorical-approach sentencing-enhancement state-court-decision Whether a court fulfills the mandate of Mathis v. United States if it looks only to whether a state defendant can be punished more than once for posse…
18-5229 Robert Adam Neuman v. Mark Nooth Ninth Circuit 2018-07-18 Denied Response WaivedIFP conflicts federal-law federal-law-analysis federal-law-review federal-review judicial-review ninth-circuit ninth-circuit-precedent ohio-v-reiner review state-court state-court-decision state-court-interpretation state-statute supreme-court-precedent Whether the Ninth Circuit's opinion unreasonably insulates the state court decision from review and conflicts with Ohio v. Reiner