DARDEN
v.
WAINWRIGHT, SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Justice Powell,
concurring in the granting of the application for a stay.
My vote is to grant the application for a stay, although I find no merit whatever in any of the claims advanced in the petition for certiorari. All of these claims have been carefully considered and repeatedly rejected by the courts below, including as recently as this afternoon the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and this evening the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Indeed the petition for certiorari was merely the stay application that had been denied, and restyled on the request of counsel as a petition for certiorari. But in view of the unusual situation in which four Justices have voted to grant certiorari (doing so -without waiting for the Court of Appeals to act on Darden’s second federal habeas petition that was before that court this evening), and in view of the fact that this is a capital case with petitioner’s life at stake, and further in view of the fact that the Justices are scattered geographically and unable to meet for a Conference, I feel obligated to join in granting the application for a stay.
Chief Justice Burger,
dissenting.
In the 12 years since petitioner was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, the issues now raised in the petition for certio-rari have been considered by this Court four times, see Darden v. Florida, 430 U. S. 704 (1977) (dismissing certiorari as improvidently granted); Darden v. Wainwright, 467 U. S. 1230 (1984) (denying certiorari); Wainwright v. Darden, 469 U. S. 1202 (1985) (vacating and remanding 725 F. 2d 1526 (CA11 1984)); Darden v. Wainwright, ante, p. 927 (order dated September 3, 1985, denying application for stay), and have been passed upon no fewer than 95 times by federal and state court judges. Upon review of the petition and the history of this case, I conclude that no issues are presented that merit plenary review by this Court. Because we abuse our discretion when we accept meritless petitions presenting claims that we rejected only hours ago, I dissent.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Darden v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 168 (U.S. 1986)…t of the trial judge that Murphy was unqualified. But neither the trial court’s eagerness to get the trial started, nor this Court’s impatience with the progress of Darden’s constitutional challenges to his conviction and death sentence, see, e. g., 473 U. S. 928, 929 (1985) (Burger, C. J., dissenting [*205] from the grant of certiorari because 12 years had elapsed since Darden’s conviction and sentence and no fewer than “95” judges had reviewed the case),9 renders Murphy’s exclusion justifiable or harmless.…1 / 2
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Darden v. Dugger, 825 F.2d 287 (11th Cir. 1987)…e cause. Darden, 772 F. 2d 668 (11th Cir.1985). Petitioner filed an application for stay of execution in the Supreme Court. The Court treated this as a petition for certiorari and granted the application, thus staying petitioner’s execution. Darden, 473 U.S. 928, 106 S.Ct. 21, 87 L.Ed.2d 699 (1985). The Court in Darden, 477 U.S. 187, 106 S.Ct. 2464, 91 L.Ed.2d 144 (1986), addressed the following three claims concerning the validity of petitioner’s criminal conviction and death sentence; (1) whether the pro…
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Hamilton v. Texas, 498 U.S. 908 (U.S. 1990)…ons for certiorari in capital cases). * See Autry v. Estelle, 464 U. S. 1, 2 (1983) (per curiam) (“Had applicant convinced four Members of the Court that certiorari would be granted on any of his claims, a stay would issue”); Darden v. Wainweight, 473 U. S. 928, 928-929 (1985) (Powell, J., concurring in granting of stay); Straight v. Wainwright, 476 U. S. 1132, 1133, n. 2 (1986) (Powell, J., concurring in denial of stay, joined by Burger, C. J., Rehnquist, and O’Connor, JJ.) (noting that “the Court has ord…
Authorities Cited
- Darden v. Florida, 430 U.S. 704 (U.S. 1977)
- Darden v. Louie L. Wainwright, 725 F.2d 1526 (11th Cir. 1984)
- Smith v. Bradford, 467 U.S. 1230 (U.S. 1984)
- Hutchinson v. United States, 467 U.S. 1230 (U.S. 1984)
- Wainwright v. Darden, 469 U.S. 1202 (U.S. 1985)