Page:Bobby James Moore v. Texas.pdf/12

Rh , with whom and  join, dissenting.

Two years ago, this Court vacated a judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals holding that Bobby James Moore was not intellectually disabled and was therefore eligible for the death penalty. Moore v. Texas, 581 U. S. ___ (2017). While the Court divided on the appropriate disposition, both the majority and the dissent agreed that the Court of Criminal Appeals should have assessed Moore’s claim of intellectual disability under contemporary standards rather than applying the outdated evidentiary factors laid out in Ex parte Briseno, 135 S. W. 3d 1, 8 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). Moore, 581 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 2); id., at ___ (, dissenting) (slip op., at 1). On remand, the Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the leading contemporary clinical standards for assessing intellectual disability, applied those standards to the record, and once again determined that Moore is eligible for the death penalty. Ex parte Moore, 548 S. W. 3d 552, 555 (2018).

Today, the Court reverses that most recent decision, holding that the Court of Criminal Appeals failed to follow our decision in Moore. Such a failure would be understandable given the “lack of guidance [Moore] offers to States seeking to enforce the holding of Atkins.” Moore, 581 U. S., at ___ (, dissenting) (slip op., at 10). Indeed, each of the errors that the majority ascribes to the state court’s decision is traceable to Moore’s failure to provide a clear rule. For example, the majority faults