Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ared-5_06-cv-00329/USCOURTS-ared-5_06-cv-00329-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2254 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (State)

---

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS

PINE BLUFF DIVISION

JAMES S. McCLELLAN PETITIONER

vs. Civil Case No. 5:06CV00329 HLJ

LARRY NORRIS, Director, 

Arkansas Department of Correction RESPONDENT

ORDER

Respondent, in his brief, assumes the Arkansas Supreme Court

is the “court of last resort,” under Riddle v. Kemna, 2008 WL

927618 (8th Cir. April 8, 2008), because Arkansas, like Missouri,

has a provision for discretionary review of Court of Appeals

decisions in the Arkansas Supreme Court. This was not the only

criterion discussed by the Riddle court, however. 

Identifying the state court of last resort requires an

examination of the particular state court procedures. See

Costarelli v. Massachusetts, 421 U.S. 193, 195-97,

198-99, 95 S.Ct. 1534, 44 L.Ed.2d 76 (1975); Pugh v.

Smith, 465 F.3d 1295, 1299-1300 (11th Cir.2006). The

Missouri Constitution says that the supreme court is “the

highest court in the state,” whose jurisdiction is

“coextensive with the state.” Mo. Const. art. V, § 2. The

supreme court has “general superintending control over

all courts and tribunals.” Id. § 4.1. “Supervisory

authority over all courts is vested in the supreme

court”. Id. It has the duty to make rules governing

“practice, procedure and pleading for all courts and

administrative tribunals,” and the power to assign any

judge to any court. Id. §§ 5, 6.

The Missouri Supreme Court also has constitutional power

to set rules for “transfer”-how cases in the court of

appeals are transferred to the supreme court. Id. § 10.

The supreme court, by rule, requires that an application

to transfer first be filed in the court of appeals,

Case 5:06-cv-00329-JMM Document 20 Filed 05/01/08 Page 1 of 2
2

before it may later be filed in the supreme court (the

Missouri Constitution does not have this requirement).

Compare id. with Mo. Sup.Ct. R. 83.04. The supreme court

has added grounds for transfer-which only it can

exercise-that are not listed in the Constitution

(conflict between appellate decisions, and “equalizing

the workload of the appellate courts”), in addition to

its exclusive constitutional power to transfer

court-of-appeals cases pre-opinion. Mo. Const. art. V, §

10; Mo. Sup.Ct. R. 83.04, 83.01. The Missouri

Constitution concludes in describing transfer: “The

supreme court may finally determine all causes coming to

it from the court of appeals, whether by certification,

transfer or certiorari, the same as on original appeal.”

Mo. Const. art. V, § 10; Mo. Sup.Ct. R. 83.09.

Riddle v. Kemna, 2008 WL 927618, 2 (8th Cir. April 8, 2008).

Respondent is requested to brief this issue within twenty (20)

days with a more thorough discussion of the procedures in Arkansas,

and to include the question of whether Collier v. Norris, 402

F.Supp.2d 1026 (E.D.Ark. December 9, 2005), is still good law in

this district, in light of Riddle. 

SO ORDERED this 1st day of May, 2008.

 

United States Magistrate Judge

Case 5:06-cv-00329-JMM Document 20 Filed 05/01/08 Page 2 of 2