Three Justices dissent from the denial of cert in Ohio capital case reversed by Sixth Circuit

This morning’s Supreme Court order list is most notable for a 14-page dissent from the denial of cert in a capital case from Ohio, Shoop v. Cunningham.  The dissent was authored by Justice Thomas and joined by Justices Alito and Gorsuch.  Here is how it gets started:

In 2002, respondent Jeronique Cunningham concluded an armed robbery of his drug dealer with a spray of bullets that killed a teenager and a toddler.  An Ohio jury convicted him of capital murder, and the trial court sentenced him to death.  Twenty years later, the Sixth Circuit ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the foreperson’s presence on the jury deprived Cunningham of due process — either because the foreperson received prejudicial outside information about Cunningham or because she was biased by an undisclosed relationship with the victims’ families.  In analyzing the first claim, the Sixth Circuit once again flouted the deferential standard of review demanded by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA).  In analyzing the second claim, the Sixth Circuit applied an incorrect framework to justify a fishing expedition based on allegations with no admissible factual foundation.

To correct these manifest abuses of the Sixth Circuit’s habeas jurisdiction, I would grant Ohio’s petition and summarily reverse the judgment below.  Therefore, I respectfully dissent from denial of certiorari.