Supreme Court makes it more difficult for prisoners to argue they had ineffective counsel
Source: CNN
The Supreme Court said Monday that state prisoners may not present new evidence in federal court in support of a claim that their post-conviction counsel in state court was ineffective in violation of the Constitution.
The ruling is a major defeat for two inmates on death row who said they had compelling claims that their state lawyers failed to pursue.
In addition, it will make it harder for inmates across the country to prevail on claims that they received ineffective counsel at the state court level in post-conviction proceedings.
The 6-3 opinion was penned by Justice Clarence Thomas.
Thomas suggested that allowing such claims to go forward would cause unnecessary delays, and he said that federal courts "must afford unwavering respect to the centrality of the trial of a criminal case in state court."
The three liberal justices dissented. In a stinging dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the decision "perverse" and said that the court had gutted precedent.
The majority opinion "reduces to rubble" many inmates' Sixth Amendment rights to the "effective assistance of counsel," she added.
"The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the right to the effective assistance of counsel at trial," Sotomayor wrote. "Today, however, the court hamstrings the federal courts' authority to safeguard that right."
"It's hard to overstate how significant this technical ruling is for state prisoners trying to argue that they haven't received the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/supreme-court-prisoners-federal-court-evidence/index.html
Holy crap!
This is nearly taking away the right to appeal!
Racist states, courts & public defenders are no longer held to perform at their best to defend the accused.
This is a DEATH SENTENCE for some!
= new reply since forum marked as read
HOLY CRAP!
Thomas suggested that allowing such claims to go forward would cause unnecessary delays, and he said that federal courts "must afford unwavering respect to the centrality of the trial of a criminal case in state court."
FUCK YOU, CLARENCE!
Plus, the for profit prisons and their shareholders are suffering significant stock market losses, not enough prisoners to work the Corporate help desk support lines at .$50/hr.
Something must be done since non violent Marijuana prisoners are not as available as in the past due to it's decriminalization/legalization.
advisors, miller, bannon, kurshner et al just packed our democracy into a corner. In November we better be like wild animals with nothing to lose coming out that corner... 
