Opinion ID: 180736
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: AEDPA's Purposes

Text: This same point resonates in our analysis of Respondent's claim that a ruling in favor of Martin conflicts with the purposes behind AEDPA. Respondent essentially argues that allowing Martin to challenge his commitment now on grounds that he could have raised years ago conflicts with Congress's goals of promoting comity, finality, and federalism while avoiding piecemeal litigation. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 420, 436, 120 S.Ct. 1479, 1490, 146 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000); Duncan v. Walker, 533 U.S. 167, 180, 121 S.Ct. 2120, 2128-29, 150 L.Ed.2d 251 (2001). However, as noted above, Martin is in a unique situation because the State put the question of whether his previous convictions are legal grounds for his commitment at issue again following his 2005 petition. Thus, despite the fact that Martin could have challenged the State's reliance on his convictions at his initial commitment hearing, his failure to do so has not caused the question to grow stale. Instead, the State has preserved it by resting its decision to continue Martin's commitment on those same grounds now. Given that fact, the application of AEDPA's goals is somewhat more complicated in this case. In addition to the fact that the states may introduce procedures that reduce duplicative litigation, as Wisconsin has done here, a couple of other factors make Martin's situation unique when it comes to application of AEDPA's principles. First, he is a civil detainee, and thus part of a population that makes up a small portion of habeas petitioners. Second, his circumstance arises only after exhaustion of state remedies, further narrowing the field. In short, allowing Martin's case to go forward will not exactly open the floodgates to excessive and repetitive federal habeas litigation. Lastly, while achieving finality is one of the goals of AEDPA, we must interpret that goal in a different light within the context of civil commitment. Finality is of course a great concern when it comes to the resolution of a particular claim or argument, but overall finality will depend in large part on the structure of a particular state's civil commitment schemeas designed and implemented. After all, unlike a conviction and sentence for a discrete criminal offense, a person's current status as a sexually violent person is a determination that is constantly and forever disputable as a matter of constitutional law, see Foucha, 504 U.S. at 77, 112 S.Ct. at 1784, and Wisconsin statutory law, Wis. Stat. § 980.07.