Abdul-Kabir, Fka Cole v. Quarterman

Summary

Justice Stevens’s majority opinion held that Texas’s special-issue instructions prevented the sentencing jury from giving meaningful mitigating effect to Abdul-Kabir’s evidence of childhood neglect, abandonment, and possible neurological damage. The state court’s denial of relief was contrary to and an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court law under AEDPA. The Court reversed the Fifth Circuit’s judgment and remanded. Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito, dissented because the Court’s precedents did not clearly establish that the state court’s treatment of this evidence was impermissible. Justice Scalia separately dissented, joined by Justice Thomas throughout and Justice Alito as to Part I, arguing that controlling precedent favored the State and that the majority effectively displaced Johnson v. Texas; he also reiterated his disagreement with the constitutional requirement that capital juries be permitted to consider all mitigating factors.