Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-511_o75p.pdf
Page Number: 12.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

9 

Opinion of the Court 

show that the petitioner may, “if the facts are fully devel-
oped,” be able to demonstrate that he is “entitled to relief ”). 
A federal court order requiring a State to transport a pris-
oner  to  a  public  setting—here,  a  medical  center  for  test-
ing—not only delays resolution of his habeas case, but may 
also  present  serious  risks  to  public  safety.    See  Brief  for 
State  of  Utah  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  7–18  (describing  the
dangers inherent in prisoner transport); cf. Price v. John-
ston, 334 U. S. 266, 285 (1948) (a court should not require 
that a prisoner be transported if doing so would cause “un-
due  inconvenience  or  danger”).2   Commanding  a  State  to 
take these risks so that a prisoner can search for unusable
evidence would not be a “necessary or appropriate” means
of aiding a federal court’s limited habeas review. 

B 
The District Court entered an order directing the State to
transport Twyford to a medical facility, concluding that do-
ing so would aid its adjudication of his habeas petition.  But 
the court never determined how, in light of the limitations
on  its  review  described  above,  newly  developed  evidence
could  aid  Twyford’s  cause.  See  Twyford  v.  Warden,  2020 
WL 1308318, *4 (SD Ohio, Mar. 19, 2020) (“the Court does
not find itself in a position at this stage of proceedings to 
make  a  determination  as  to  whether  or  to  what  extent  it 
would be precluded by Cullen v. Pinholster from considering
any new evidence”).  Nor did the Sixth Circuit.  See 11 F. 
4th, at 527 (“At this stage, on review of Twyford’s interloc-
utory  appeal  seeking  a  transport  order,  we  need  not  con-
sider the admissibility of any resulting evidence.”).  For the 
—————— 

2 These risks are not speculative.  To give just one example, earlier this 
year a convicted murderer escaped from a prison bus transporting him
to a medical appointment by breaking out of his restraints and stabbing
the bus driver.  He was on the run for three weeks—and allegedly killed 
a  family  of  five  during  that  time—before  dying  in  a  shootout  with  the 
police.  See  M.  Ives  &  A.  Traub,  Hunt  for  Escaped  Murderer  Ends  in 
Shootout With Police in Texas, N. Y. Times, June 4, 2022, p. A14.