There was a time when the Supreme Court would reverse decisions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in habeas cases quite regularly, often summarily. This does not happen as much as it used to, but some justices remain concerned that some of the Sixth Circuit's judges are too quick to grant habeas relief.
Chandler v. Brown looks like a potential candidate for summary reversal at One First Street. The original Sixth Circuit panel, consisting of Judges White, Stranch, and Davis, reversed the district court's denial of Louis Chandler's habeas petition. The full court granted en banc review, but only to have the panel amend its initial opinion. Now, the court has denied a subsequent petition for rehearing en banc, over the dissent of four judges.
On Thursday, Judges Thapar and Murphy authored a dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc in Chandler v. Brown, joined by Judges Griffin and Readler. Here is how Thapar and Murphy summarize the case and their objections.
