Three Texas death row appeals con­sid­ered dur­ing the past year by the U.S. Supreme Court have result­ed in sharp rever­sals, per­haps indi­cat­ing an increas­ing impa­tience with two of the courts that han­dle death penal­ty cas­es from Texas: the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In one of the Supreme Court opin­ions, the Court con­clud­ed that the Fifth Circuit was only ​“pay­ing lip ser­vice to prin­ci­ples” of appel­late law in issu­ing rul­ings with ​“no foun­da­tion in the deci­sions of this court,” and in anoth­er opin­ion it found that the Court of Criminal Appeals ​“relied on a test we nev­er coun­te­nanced and now have unequiv­o­cal­ly reject­ed.” This year’s rul­ings con­tin­ue a pat­tern that has emerged over the past decade. In the last 10 years, the Supreme Court has ruled against pros­e­cu­tors in all six appeals brought by inmates on death row in Texas. It is antic­i­pat­ed that a fourth case before the Court this year is poised to result in yet anoth­er rebuke. On December 6, Texas death row inmate Thomas Miller-El’s appeal was heard by the Supreme Court for the sec­ond time in two years. The Justices took up the case again after an ear­li­er 8 – 1 rul­ing that instruct­ed the Fifth Circuit to rethink its pri­or dis­missal of evi­dence that pros­e­cu­tors sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly exclud­ed blacks from Miller-El’s jury. (New York Times, December 5, 2004). See Supreme Court and DPIC’s page on Miller-El.

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