Legal Commentary

One More 5?4 Decision

By Jonathan H. Adler

This morning, with its end-of-term orders, the Supreme Court issued a 5?4 per curiam opinion in Sears v. Upton, a capital habeas case in which five justices voted to grant the petition of ceriorari, summarily vacate the decision below, and remand for further proceedings.  According to the brief per curiam opinion, after determining that Sears had received inadequate assistance of counsel, the state court failed to apply the proper Sixth Amendment inquiry to determine whether Sears was prejudiced.  The opinion notes that Chief Justice and Justice Alito would not have granted certiorari, and Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented.

SCOTUSBlog has more on today?s orders here.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on June 29, 2010 (boomark / email).