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Bell v. Kelly: What is a "Claim"?

By Kent Scheidegger et al.

In 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), the cornerstone reform of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Congress provided that a federal court cannot grant relief on a claim denied on the merits by a state court unless certain conditions are met, essentially unless the state court decision was outside the bounds of reasonable disagreement. This measure was a compromise between those who favored giving the state court decision as much respect as federal court decisions and those who favored the status quo ante of giving them no weight at all on questions of federal law. But what exactly is a "claim"? That question is now before the Supreme Court in Bell v. Kelly, No. 07-1223, which just may be the "sleeper" case of this term. It hasn't received much attention yet, but the potential ramifications are large, especially for capital cases...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime and Consequences on October 03, 2008 (boomark / email).