Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-679_f2bh.pdf
Page Number: 6.0

6 

SHOOP v. CASSANO 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

has a right “to proceed without counsel if he clearly and un-
equivocally asks to do so”). 

A 
Applying AEDPA, this case is straightforward.  To begin,
the Supreme Court of Ohio expressly addressed and adju-
dicated the merits of Cassano’s various Faretta arguments.
The state high court labeled a section of its decision “Pre-
liminary Issues: Self-representation.”  Cassano, 96 Ohio St. 
3d, at 98, 772 N. E. 2d, at 90.  It then described the May
1998 waiver of counsel and the dueling request for substi-
tute counsel filed the same day.  Id., at 99, 772 N. E. 2d, at 
90–91.  It  also  described  Cassano’s  September  1998  and 
April 1999 motions.  See ibid., 772 N. E. 2d, at 91.  After 
recounting all three alleged invocations of the right to self-
representation, the court then cited state and federal case
law  derived  from  Faretta  and  “reject[ed]  Cassano’s  claim 
that his rights of self-representation were violated.”  Id., at 
100, 772 N. E. 2d, at 91.  The opinion leaves no doubt that 
the state high court reached and decided the merits of Cas-
sano’s Faretta claim. 

But even if the Supreme Court of Ohio’s opinion had not 
“expressly address[ed]” Cassano’s Faretta claim, “a federal 
habeas court must presume that the federal claim was ad-
judicated  on  the  merits”  when  the  state  court  rejects  it. 
Johnson v. Williams, 568 U. S. 289, 301 (2013).  Only if in-
disputable  evidence  “leads  very  clearly  to  the  conclusion
that  [the]  federal  claim  was  inadvertently  overlooked  in 
state court” may a federal court review the claim de novo. 
Id., at 303.  Here, it is obvious that the Supreme Court of 
Ohio  did  not  “inadvertently  overloo[k]”  Cassano’s  Faretta 
claim or any of the claim’s supporting evidence.  At the very
least,  nothing  “very  clearly”  establishes  that  court’s  inad-
vertence. 

Because  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  adjudicated  Cas-
sano’s  Faretta  claim  on  the  merits,  AEDPA’s  deferential