Page:Tim Shoop, Warden v. Danny Hill.pdf/3

Rh n. 4, 489, 491, 492, 493, 495, 496, 498, 500. The court acknowledged that “[o]rdinarily, Supreme Court decisions that post-date a state court’s determination cannot be ‘clearly established law’ for the purposes of [the federal habeas statute],” but the court argued “that Moore’s holding regarding adaptive strengths [was] merely an application of what was clearly established by Atkins.” Id., at 487.

The State filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, contending that the Sixth Circuit violated §2254(d)(1) because a fundamental underpinning of its decision was Moore, a case decided by this Court well after the Ohio courts’ decisions. Against this, Hill echoes the Court of Appeals’ argument that Moore merely spelled out what was clearly established by Atkins regarding the assessment of adaptive skills.

The federal habeas statute, as amended by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), imposes important limitations on the power of federal courts to overturn the judgments of state courts in criminal cases. The statute respects the authority and ability of state courts and their dedication to the protection of constitutional rights. Thus, under the statutory provision at issue here, 28 U. S. C. §2254(d)(1), habeas relief may be granted only if the state court’s adjudication “resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of,” Supreme Court precedent that was “clearly established” at the time of the adjudication. E. g., White v. Woodall, 572 U. S. 415, 419–420 (2014); Metrish v. Lancaster, 569 U. S. 351, 357–358 (2013). This means that a state court’s ruling must be “so lacking in justification that there was an error well understood and comprehended in existing law beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement.” Harrington v. Richter, 562 U. S. 86, 103