Today the Court summarily reversed the Fourth Circuit in Klein v. Martin, an AEDPA case. As Jon Adler noted, the Fourth Circuit may be the new Ninth Circuit for habeas. But the vote here was not unanimous. Justice Jackson would not have granted the writ, though she did not include an opinion explaining her reasoning. She only offered a single sentence:
JUSTICE JACKSON would deny the petition for a writ of certiorari.
There is a long-running debate about how many votes are needed for a summary reversal. Is it five or six? Here, as many as three other justices might have agreed with Jackson, and not noted their vote, but I think it unlikely.
