Opinion ID: $opinion_id
Heading Depth: 1.0
Heading Rank: 1

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Text: Michael Reese, the respondent, appealed his state-court kidnaping and attempted sodomy convictions and sentences through Oregon's state court system. He then brought collateral relief proceedings in the state courts (where he was represented by appointed counsel). After the lower courts denied him collateral relief, Reese filed a petition for discretionary review in the Oregon Supreme Court.

The petition made several different legal claims. In relevant part, the petition asserted that Reese had received "ineffective assistance of both trial court and appellate court counsel." App. 47. The petition added that "his imprisonment is in violation of [Oregon state law]." Id., at 48. It said that his trial counsel's conduct violated several provisions of the Federal Constitution. Ibid. But it did not say that his separate appellate "ineffective assistance" claim violated federal law. The Oregon Supreme Court denied review.

Reese ultimately sought a federal writ of habeas corpus, raising, among other claims, a federal constitutional claim that his appellate counsel did not effectively represent him during one of his direct state-court appeals. The Federal District Court held that Reese had not "fairly presented" his federal "ineffective assistance of appellate counsel" claim to the higher state courts because his brief in the state appeals court had not indicated that he was complaining about a violation of federal law.

A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court. 282 F. 3d 1184 (2002). Although the majority apparently believed that Reese's petition itself did not alert the Oregon Supreme Court to the federal nature of the appellate "ineffective assistance" claim, it did not find that fact determinative. Id., at 1193-1194. Rather, it found that Reese had satisfied the "fair presentation" requirement because the justices of the Oregon Supreme Court had had "the opportunity to read . . . the lower [Oregon] court decision claimed to be in error before deciding whether to grant discretionary review." Id., at 1194 (emphasis added). Had they read the opinion of the lower state trial court, the majority added, the justices would have, or should have, realized that Reese's claim rested upon federal law. Ibid.

We granted certiorari to determine whether the Ninth Circuit has correctly interpreted the "fair presentation" requirement.