Amazingly interesting case for Fed Courts law geeks (like me)

Thanks to this post at SCOTUSblog, one can now access all the briefs filed in in Danforth v. Minnesota (06-8273).  Danforth is a fascinating case, to be argued before the Supreme Court on October 31, which addresses state courts’ authority to apply retroactively Supreme Court criminal procedure rulings.  For lots of reasons beyond its argument date, Danforth should be spooky cool for true law geeks.

If you have a deep interest in Teague and retroactivity jurisprudence or Fed Courts and legal process issues, Danforth is surely one of the most interesting cases of the Term.  (But anyone not a true law geek may just get a headache from trying to figure out just what’s really at issue in this case.)  One marker of this case’s intrigue is this amicus brief from eight states filed not in support of either party.  Meanwhile, another amicus brief from another group of states backs Minnesota, and other friendly briefs from the ACLU and NACDL backs the defendant. 

The question presented in Danforth is pretty simple: “Are state courts required to use the standard announced in Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989), to determine whether decisions of this Court apply retroactively in state postconviction proceedings?”  But the briefs highlight how complicated the answer could become.