How did the California Supreme Court do at the U.S. Supreme Court during the latter’s most recent term, which ended last week? Here’s a look.
The most prominent case featured an indirect, negative review of an arbitration decision. In Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, the Court disapproved one rule stated years earlier in Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC (2014) 59 Cal.4th 348, cert. denied, CLS Transp. Los Angeles, LLC v. Iskanian (2015) 574 U.S. 1121. (See: SCOTUS disapproves California Supreme Court decision.)
Other than Viking River Cruises, the U.S. Supreme Court saw no reason to alter any California Supreme Court decisions. The high court’s only direct assessments of those decisions resulted in eight certiorari petition denials, all but one of them affirmances in death penalty appeals. The Court even declined to hear one case — People v. Gonzalez — in which the California court had criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sixth Amendment jurisprudence as unclear.
These are the cert denials:
- Certiorari denied in People v. Baker (2021) 10 Cal.5th 1044 (see: Supreme Court upholds death penalty for rape-murder, rejects Batson claim).
- Certiorari denied in People v. Johnsen (2021) 10 Cal.5th 1116 (see: Death sentence affirmed for robbery-murder, court holds juror’s discussion with priest during trial about morality of capital punishment doesn’t require reversal; Supreme Court again rejects argument that judicial elections taint death penalty judgments).
- Certiorari denied in Reilly v. Marin Housing Authority (2020) 10 Cal.5th 583 (see: 4-3 court allows for larger federal housing subsidies; U.S. Solicitor General says 4-3 Supreme Court decision was wrong; SCOTUS won’t review divided Supreme Court public benefits opinion that the Solicitor General said is wrong).
- Certiorari denied in People v. Ramirez (2021) 10 Cal.5th 983 (see Supreme Court approves death penalty for police officer’s murder).
- Certiorari denied in People v. Scully (2021) 11 Cal.5th 542 (see Supreme Court affirms death sentence for murder of sheriff’s deputy).
- Certiorari denied in People v. Battle (2021) 11 Cal.5th 749 (see Supreme Court affirms death penalty, with a Batson dissent).
- Certiorari denied in People v. Gonzalez (2021) 12 Cal.5th 367 (see Supreme Court affirms death penalty for murder of sheriff’s deputy, criticizing lack of clarity in SCOTUS case law).
- Certiorari denied in People v. McDaniel (2021) 12 Cal.5th 97 (see No wholesale voiding of death sentences in the offing as Supreme Court affirms death penalty without making anticipated dramatic change to its jurisprudence; Cert denied in landmark death penalty case that wasn’t).
The list of cert denials doesn’t include those concerning California Supreme Court decisions without opinions, such as summary denials of habeas corpus or writ petitions or State Bar matters.
There was a larger number of connections between the two courts during the October 2020 term. (See here.)
