2023-0622: The Supreme Court’s latest opinion means innocent people must remain in prison

Clarence Thomas’s majority opinion ensures that innocent people will spend years behind bars.

The U.S. Supreme Court closes the door further to innocence claims. The court’s six conservatives rejected an attempt by a Maryland prisoner to challenge his federal conviction after a subsequent court ruling changed the law under which he was charged. Dissenting Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor wrote: “A prisoner who is actually innocent, imprisoned for conduct that Congress did not criminalize, is forever barred… from raising that claim… because he previously sought postconviction relief.” VOX

VOX LINK: https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/22/23769886/supreme-court-innocent-jones-hendrix-clarence-thomas-habeas

Related: Read the decision. U.S. SUPREME COURT

TMP Context: Death by deadline. THE MARSHALL PROJECT