How Not to Get Your Habeas Handed to You

Magistrate Judges Education Program:
How Not to Get Your Habeas Handed to You

On its face, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act seems straightforward. But, rather than simplifying habeas review, courts have struggled with its language and its implications. Now, 16 years after AEDPA was passed, the Supreme Court has once again considered the confines of federal habeas review in Cullen v. Pinholster. However, the decision left many unresolved questions including: what circumstances justify an evidentiary hearing; may a court conduct an evidentiary hearing where a state court determined a claim was procedurally barred; and may a court permit discovery to allow a petitioner to supplement the state court record?

Moderator:
Kathleen Sullivan, Esq., Partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

Panelists:
Bill Bilderback, California State Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Sean Kennedy, Federal Public Defender (CAC)
Mark Drozdowski, Asst. Federal Public Defender (CAC)

2012 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference
Recorded: August 15, 2012