Sonia Sotomayor

“ To be sure, under §2254 (e) (2) , if a habeas petitioner "has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim in State court proceedings, the court shall not hold an evidentiary hearing on the claim" unless certain conditions are met. Had the State invoked this section in the District Court, the hearing may have been barred for the reasons given by the Court of Appeals. But whether §2254 (e) (2) barred the hearing is a separate question from whether the State's §2254 (e) (2) objection was properly before the Court of Appeals in the first place. ”

“ Our approach not only comports with the language of the Steel Co. majority opinion, but also advances the underlying rationale of Steel Co. and makes good sense as a constitutional matter. The concern of the Steel Co. majority was that deciding a case on the mere assumption of jurisdiction can lead to the rendering of advisory opinions in violation of Article III: "Hypothetical jurisdiction produces nothing more than a hypothetical judgment--which comes to the same thing as an advisory opinion, disapproved by this Court from the beginning." ”

“ Dominguez Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 81, n. 7 (2004) ("When the Government has the burden of addressing prejudice, as in excusing preserved error as harmless on direct review of the criminal conviction, it is not enough to negate an effect on the outcome of the case" (citing Chapman, 386 U.S., at 24) ) ”

“ It is not clear, however, that the district court's reliance on Planned Parenthood is entirely justified in this context. We found in Planned Parenthood that the alleged harm suffered by domestic NGOs is attributable to independent decisions of foreign NGOs, but only for purposes of the merits of plaintiffs' First Amendment claims. It does not necessarily follow that Planned Parenthood answers the question of causation with respect to constitutional standing. ”

“ They allege that under the HRSA guidelines, Hobby Lobby and Mardel will be required, contrary to the applicants' religious beliefs, to provide insurance coverage for certain drugs and devices that the applicants believe can cause abortions. The applicants simultaneously filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the contraception-coverage requirement, which is scheduled to take effect with respect to the employee insurance plans of Hobby Lobby and Mardel on January 1, 2013. ”

“ After a jury convicted Richard Gamache of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death, Gamache's counsel and the trial court learned that during deliberations, court personnel inadvertently gave the jury a videotape that had not been admitted into evidence. During its deliberations, the jury watched the video twice in full and a third time in part before reaching its verdict. ”

“ We have not considered, however, whether prison officials may require inmates with HIV to take medication, such that the refusal to do so might justify the imposition of sanctions by such officials.
Even assuming respondents had a legitimate penological interest that outweighed a right to refuse HIV medication, that interest would not permit respondents to punish Pitre, or to attempt to coerce him to take medication, by subjecting him to hard labor that they knew posed "a substantial risk of serious harm." ”

“ On appeal, plaintiffs flesh out the equal protection claim by explaining that the use of the Standard Clause, "by prohibiting [foreign NGOs] from collaborating with Plaintiffs, denies Plaintiffs the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with opponents of abortion law reform." ”

“ Ultimately, when the defense asked Quijano whether Buck was likely to commit violent criminal acts if he were sentenced to life imprisonment, Quijano replied, "The probability of that happening in prison would be low." Id., at 115. The defense also offered into evidence, over the prosecutor's objection, a report containing Quijano's psychological evaluation of Buck, which substantially mirrored Quijano's trial testimony. ”

“ ON APPLICATION FOR INJUNCTION
[December 26, 2012] ⁠Justice Sotomayor, Circuit Justice.
⁠This is an application for an injunction pending appellate review filed with me as Circuit Justice for the Tenth Circuit. The applicants are two closely held for-profit corporations, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (Hobby Lobby) and Mardel, Inc. (Mardel) , and five family members who indirectly own and control those corporations. Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts retail chainstore, with more than 13,000 employees in over 500 stores nationwide. ”

“ Under these circumstances, rather than assume the correctness of the District Court's unreviewed merits decision, I believe a stay of execution is warranted to allow Haynes to pursue his claim on remand if this Court in Trevino rejects the single ground relied upon by the Fifth Circuit for denying Haynes' application for a certificate of appealability. ”

“ Having rejected plaintiffs' claims on the merits, this Court declined to address the question of whether plaintiffs had standing under Article III. Id. at 66.
Planned Parenthood not only controls this case conceptually; it presented the same issue. Planned Parenthood rejected the same First Amendment challenge to the same provision--the Standard Clause that was first instituted by President Reagan in the 1980s and was reinstated by President George W. Bush in 2001 [3] --and no intervening Supreme Court case law alters its precedential value. ”

“ In advance of the penalty phase of his trial, Hodge's counsel conducted no investigation into potential mitigation evidence and presented no evidence to the jury. The Commonwealth did not put on evidence of aggravating circumstances either, beyond the facts of the crime. Instead, the parties agreed that the jury should be read this stipulation: "'Benny Lee Hodge has a loving and supportive family—a wife and three children. He has a public job work record and he lives and resides permanently in Tennessee.'" App. ”

“ The Fifth Circuit summarily affirmed, concluding, "Mr. Pitre has been given medical care, but he refuses to take medication which results at times in physical problems. Evidence of conscious indifference is not presented." ”

“ As relevant here, HRSA's
page 2, slip opinion guidelines for women's preventive services require coverage for "all Food and Drug Administration . . . approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity as prescribed by a provider." ”

“ More fundamentally, the Kentucky Supreme Court appears to believe that in cases involving "violent and cruel murders," it does not matter that the "malefacto [r] " had a "terrible childhoo [d] "; the jury would return a death sentence regardless. App. to Pet. for Cert. 11. That view is contrary to our cases applying Strickland's prejudice prong. In Rompilla, for example, we considered counsel's failure "to present significant mitigating evidence about Rompilla's childhood," which was as horrific as Hodge's, as well as his "mental capacity and health, and alcoholism." ”

“ The testimony at the hearing established that Williams had been "subject to every category of traumatic experience that is generally used to describe childhood trauma": sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators; physical and psychological abuse by his mother and stepfather; gross medical, nutritional, and educational neglect; exposure to violence in the childhood home and neighborhood ”

“ Quijano that race should be a factor for the jury to consider" in making its sentencing determination. Record in No. 4:04–cv–03965 (SD Tex.) , Doc. 27–5, p. 30 (hereinafter Record) (internal quotation marks omitted) . These were the five cases listed above (besides Saldano) , as well as Buck's. The attorney general declared that "it is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system." ”

“ We have thus held that prison officials may forcibly treat a mentally ill inmate with antipsychotic drugs "if the inmate is dangerous to himself or others and the treatment is in the inmate's medical interest." ”

“ Similarly, plaintiffs allege that the challenged restrictions impede their ability to disseminate publications and reports "because [foreign NGOs] that would otherwise distribute the publications in foreign countries are prohibited or chilled from doing so." Id. P 103. Plaintiffs argue that this harm is actionable under Supreme Court precedent holding that "the First Amendment protects [individuals'] right not only to advocate their cause but also to select what they believe to be the most effective means for so doing." ”

“ He had been an average student in school, but he began to change when Billy Joe entered his life. He started stealing around age 12, and wound up in juvenile detention for his crimes. There, Hodge was beaten routinely and subjected to frequent verbal and emotional abuse. After assaulting Billy Joe at age 16, Hodge returned to juvenile detention, where the abuse continued. Hodge remained there until he was 18. Over the 16 years between his release from juvenile detention and the murder, Hodge committed various theft crimes that landed him in prison for about 13 of those years. ”

“ The video showed a police interview of Gamache and his codefendants on the day of the murder in which Gamache confessed to the crime in graphic terms. The video showed Gamache explaining, for example, that given the opportunity, he would have shot police officers. 48 Cal. 4th 347, 402, 227 P. 3d 342, 390 (2010) (quoting Gamache on the video as stating, "'If I figured, if I had any idea I was about to be arrested, I'd have started shooting....See, I figure if I'm going to die,. . . I’m going to take one or two with me'") . ”

“ Especially in light of the capital nature of this case and the express recognition by a Texas attorney general that the relevant testimony was inappropriately race-charged, Buck has presented issues that "deserve encouragement to proceed further." ”

“ As the case law and the legal theories involved are quite different, this constitutional standing analysis does not inform the question on which we reserved judgment above regarding constitutional standing to bring the First Amendment claims. We find that plaintiffs do have constitutional standing to bring an equal protection claim. ”

“ This Court has not previously addressed similar RFRA or free exercise claims brought by closely held for-profit corporations and their controlling shareholders alleging that the mandatory provision of certain employee benefits substantially burdens their exercise of religion. ”

“ California, 386 U.S. 18, 24 (1967) , the prosecution must carry the burden of showing that a constitutional trial error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See also Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622, 635 (2005) (" [W] here a court, without adequate justification, orders the defendant to wear shackles that will be seen by the jury... [t] he State must prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt that the [shackling] error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained'" (quoting Chapman, 386 U.S., at 24) ) ”

“ After inquiring about the statistical factors of past crimes and age and how they might indicate future dangerousness in Buck's case, the prosecutor said: "You have determined that the sex factor, that a male is more violent than a female because that's just the way it is, and that the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons; is that correct?" Id., at 160. Quijano answered, "Yes." Ibid. After additional cross-examination and testimony from a subsequent witness, the prosecutor argued to the jury in summation that ”

“ Plaintiff The Center for Reproductive Law & Policy ("CRLP") is a nonprofit advocacy organization devoted to the promotion of reproductive rights. Individual plaintiffs Janet Benshoof, Anika Rahman, Katherine Hall Martinez, Julia Ernst, Laura Katzive, Melissa Upreti and Christina Zampas are CRLP staff attorneys engaged in the organization's global mission of reproductive law reform. Defendant George W. Bush is the President of the United States. ”

“ Not surprisingly, the jury unanimously recommended a death sentence. The trial court sentenced Williams to death by lethal injection, and the Arkansas Supreme Court af-
page 2, slip opinion firmed the conviction and sentence on direct appeal. Williams v. State, 338 Ark. 97, 991 S. W. 2d 565 (1999) .
After the Arkansas courts denied his petition for collateral relief, Williams filed a federal habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. §2254. Williams alleged that he received ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. ”

“ There is an over-representation of Blacks among the violent offenders." Defense Exh. 1 in No. 699684 (208th Jud. Dist., Harris Cty., Tex.) , p. 7.
page 3, slip opinion Quijano "told you that there was a probability that [Buck] would commit future acts of violence." Id., at 260. The jury returned a verdict of death.
This was not the first time that Quijano had testified in a Texas capital case, or in which the prosecution asked him questions regarding the relationship between race and future dangerousness. State prosecutors had elicited comparable testimony from Quijano in several other cases. ”