Opinion ID: $opinion_id
Heading Depth: 1.0
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: $label

Text: Reese argues in the alternative that it is wrong to assume that his petition by itself failed to alert the Oregon Supreme Court to the federal nature of his "ineffective assistance of appellate counsel" claim. We do not agree.

Reese must concede that his petition does not explicitly say that the words "ineffective assistance of appellate counsel" refer to a federal claim. The petition refers to provisions of the Federal Constitution in respect to other claims but not in respect to this one. The petition provides no citation of any case that might have alerted the court to the alleged federal nature of the claim. And the petition does not even contain a factual description supporting the claim. Cf. Gray v. Netherland, 518 U. S. 152, 163 (1996); Duncan, 513 U. S., at 366.

Reese asserts that the petition nonetheless "fairly presents" a federal "ineffective assistance of appellate counsel" claim for two reasons. First, he says that the word "ineffective" is a term of art in Oregon that refers only to federal-law claims and not to similar state-law claims, which, he adds, in Oregon are solely referred to as "inadequate assistance" claims. And thus the Oregon Supreme Court should have known, from his use of the word "ineffective," that his claim was federal.

Reese, however, has not demonstrated that Oregon law uses the words "ineffective assistance" in the manner he suggests, that is, as referring only to a federal-law claim. See, e. g., Lichau v. Baldwin, 166 Ore. App. 411, 415, 417, 999 P. 2d 1207, 1210, 1211 (2000) (using "ineffective assistance" to refer to violations of the Oregon Constitution), rev'd in part, 333 Ore. 350, 39 P. 3d 851 (2002). Indeed, Reese's own petition uses both phrases _x0097_ "ineffective assistance" and "inadequate assistance" _x0097_ at different points to refer to what is apparently a single claim.

Second, Reese says that in Oregon the standards for adjudicating state and federal "inadequate/ineffective appellate assistance" claims are identical. He adds that, where that identity exists, a petitioner need not indicate a claim's federal nature, because, by raising a state-law claim, he would necessarily "fairly present" the corresponding federal claim.

However, the Ninth Circuit did not address this argument, and our reading of the briefs filed in the Ninth Circuit leads us to conclude that Reese did not there seek consideration of the argument in that court. Indeed, the argument first made its appearance in this Court in Reese's brief on the merits. Under this Court's Rule 15.2, "a nonjurisdictional argument not raised in a respondent's brief in opposition to a petition for a writ of certiorari may be deemed waived." Caterpillar Inc. v. Lewis, 519 U. S. 61, 75, n. 13 (1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). This argument falls squarely within the rule. The complex nature of Reese's claim and its broad implications suggest that its consideration by the lower courts would help in its resolution. Hence, without expressing any view on the merits of the issue, we exercise our Rule 15.2 discretion and deem the argument waived in this Court. See, e. g., Roberts v. Galen of Va., Inc., 525 U. S. 249, 253-254 (1999) (per curiam); South Central Bell Telephone Co. v. Alabama, 526 U. S. 160, 171 (1999); cf. Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine, 537 U. S. 51, 56, n. 4 (2002).

For these reasons, the judgment of the Ninth Circuit is

Reversed.