US Supreme Court agrees with Arizona on death penalty cases, a blow to prisoners trying to prove innocence – By Joseph Darius Jaafari (Arizona Republic) / May 23, 2022
In a direct blow to prisoners who are hoping to get federal courts to hear their innocence, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday voted in favor of Arizona, which argued that federal judges can’t determine guilt of people for state crimes — even if there is proof of innocence.
In a 6-3 super-majority ruling, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority’s opinion for the case, Shinn v. Ramirez, he described that the federal courts should only act as a review of state procedures, and whether or not they acted correctly when finding someone guilty. He said the court’s lower rulings violated state sovereignty.
Quoting past court decisions, Thomas wrote that ultimately, “it would be unseemly in our dual system of government for a federal district court to upset a state court conviction without [giving] an opportunity to the state courts to correct a constitutional violation.”
