Court Opinion

ID: 9495018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 15:52:49.114267+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:46.380416
License: Public Domain

KEITH, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the majority’s opinion. In reaching its result, the majority cites our decision in Harris v. Stovall, 212 F.3d 940, 943 (6th Cir.2000) as dictating the deference that we must give the Ohio Court of Appeals’s treatment of petitioner’s due process claim — a claim never decided upon by that court. I agree that Harris, and more importantly, Doan v. Brigano, 237 F.3d 722 (6th Cir.2001), require us to apply 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) even when the state courts do not consider properly raised federal claims. I write separately, however; to express my disagreement with Doan.1 In my view, § 2254(d) requires a federal court to first find that a petitioner’s federal claim was “adjudicated on the merits” before applying § 2254(d)(1) — a step skipped in Doan. Here, where the state courts have not decided upon petitioner’s federal claims, there is simply no. “adjudication on the merits.” Therefore, in my view, we should follow the rest of our sister circuits that have addressed this issue, apply pre-AEDPA law, and review the federal claims de novo.
28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1), as amended by the AEDPA, reads:
(d) An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim—
(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States[.]
The majority correctly states that “[although [the] petitioner raised a claim that admission of this testimony violated both due process and his right to a fair trial, the Ohio court of appeals did not directly address these constitutional issues.” The majority then correctly states that our precedents dictate that in the absence of a state court decision on a defendant’s federal claim, we still apply § 2254(d)(1) to the federal claim on habeas review:
In the absence of a state court decision, we conduct an independent review of federal law to determine if the state court either contravened or unreasonably applied clearly established- federal law to determine if the state court either contravened or unreasonably applied clearly established federal law.... “That independent review, however, is not a full, de novo review of the claims, but remains deferential because the court cannot grant relief unless the state court’s result is not in keeping with the strictures of the AEDPA.”
Majority Op. at 835 (citing Harris, 212 F.3d at 943).
In Doan v. Brigano, 237 F.3d 722 (6th Cir.2001), we further explained how to ap*838ply § 2254(d). In Doan, the Ohio Court of Appeals never addressed the defendant’s constitutional claim challenging his conviction. See id. at 727. The defendant alleged that he was denied his constitutional right to confront adverse witnesses when one juror made extraneous statements to other jurors. Upon the filing of the habe-as petition, the district court held that it was barred from reviewing the constitutional claim because the Ohio Court of Appeals decision disposed of the claim pursuant to Ohio Evid. R. 606(B), an adequate and independent state ground. See id. On appeal, we disagreed with the district court’s reasoning2 and held that Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) could not serve as an adequate and independent state basis for upholding the conviction because the state law could itself violate the Constitution. See id. at 728 (“the Warden cannot put forth Ohio Evid. R. 606(B) as an adequate and independent state basis for the state court decision, thus avoiding Supreme Court review, when the very application of that evidence rule is alleged to prevent Doan from ever showing that his federal constitutional rights ... were violated.”).
In Doan, by holding that the Ohio Court of Appeals could not rest its entire decision on state law, we acknowledged that the state courts never considered the defendant’s constitutional claims.3 Nonetheless, we held that we were required to apply § 2254(d)(1) to the result of the state court proceedings on all of the defendant’s claims — even to the constitutional claims that the state court never considered. See id. at 730-731.4
The present case is indistinguishable from Doan. Here, an Ohio Court of Appeals rested its decision on the Ohio Rules of Evidence without ever addressing petitioner’s due process claim. Therefore, we review the due process claim under the “contrary to” clause of § 2254(d)(1). See id. Although I acknowledge that this panel is bound by Doan, were this a case of first impression, I would not review petitioner’s due process claim under § 2254(d)(1) as it was never “adjudicated on the merits” by the state courts, a precondition to review under § 2254(d). In my view, “adjudicated on the merits” means ‘actually decided upon.’ Doan committed a critical error when it skipped over § 2254(d)’s requirement that a claim be actually decided upon before applying the standard of review set forth in § 2254(d)(1). In my view, which I explain below, we should follow the approach of our sister circuits who have addressed this issue and hold that a claim not actually decided upon by the state courts should not be reviewed under § 2254(d)(l)’s deferential standard, but the pre-AEDPA de novo standard of review.
Several circuits have addressed the issue of what constitutes an “adjudication on the merits” in two contexts relevant hereto. First, several circuits have discussed whether cursory treatment of a federal claim, such as that ordinarily found in a summary order, is an “adjudication on the merits.” See Sellan v. Kuhlman, 261 F.3d 303, 309-315 (2d Cir.2001); Green v. Johnson, 116 F.3d 1115, 1120-1121 (5th Cir.1997); Delgado v. Lewis, 181 F.3d 1087, *8391093 (9th Cir.1999); Aycox v. Lytle, 196 F.3d 1174, 1177-1178 (10th Cir.1999). Uniformly, these circuits have held that a federal court should not refuse to apply § 2254(d) based on the quality of the state court’s decision.5 As the Second Circuit stated:
If we were to infer that an unconscionable breakdown occurred heréin because the Appellate Division issued a summary affirmance rather than a written opinion, not only would this reflect doubt regarding the capabilities of the New York courts as fair and competent forums for the adjudication of federal constitutional rights, but this would also place us in the position of dictating to state courts that they must issue opinions explicitly addressing the issues presented or else face ‘second guessing’ by the federal courts.
Sellan, 261 F.3d at 312 (quoting Capellan v. Riley, 975 F.2d 67, 72 (2d Cir.1992)).
Second, a few of these circuits, and others, have also discussed the applicability of § 2254(d) where the state court has made no decision at all, even cursory, on a petitioner’s federal claims. See DiBenedetto v. Hall, 272 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.2001); Sellan, 261 F.3d at 309-313; Harneen v. Delaware, 212 F.3d 226 (3rd Cir.2000); Mercadel v. Cain, 179 F.3d 271 (5th Cir.1999); LaFevers v. Gibson, 182 F.3d 705 (10th Cir.1999). Uniformly, these circuits hold that when the state courts never make a decision on a federal claim, the federal claim has not been “adjudicated on the merits” for purposes of § 2254(d). See DiBenedetto, 272 F.3d at 6 (“[if] the state court has not decided the federal constitutional claim (even by reference to state court decisions dealing with federal constitutional issues), then we cannot say that the constitutional claim was ‘adjudicated on the merits’ within the meaning of § 2254 and therefore entitled to the deferential review prescribed in subsection (d).”); Sellan, 261 F.3d at 313 (adopting the Fifth Circuit test to determine whether a claim has been dispensed of substantively and, therefore, “adjudicated on the merits”.); Harmneen, 212 F.3d at 248 (recognizing that because the state courts only discussed state law, petitioner’s federal claims were not “adjudicated on the merits”); Mercadel, 179 F.3d at 274-275 (holding that the one word denial of petitioner’s claim was not an “adjudication on the merits”.); LaFevers, 182 F.3d at 711, (“[j]f the claim was not heard on the merits by the state courts, and the federal district court made its own determination in the first instance, we review the district court’s conclusions of law de novo. ... ”).
The Fifth Circuit has set forth a test to determine whether a state court decision “adjudicates” a federal claim on the merits for purposes- of § 2254(d). See Green v. Johnson, 116 F.3d 1115 (5th Cir.1997). The Fifth Circuit looks to whether a state court decision disposes of a claim substantively or.procedurally. Id. at 1121. When a claim is disposed of substantively it is adjudicated on the merits. Id. When it is disposed of procedurally, it is not. Id. In determining whether a disposition is substantive or procedural, the Fifth Circuit looks to three factors:
(1) what the state courts have done in similar eases;
(2) whether the history of the case suggests that the state court was aware of *840any ground for not adjudicating the case on the merits; and (3) whether the state courts’ opinions suggest reliance upon procedural grounds rather than a determination of the merits.
Id. The Second Circuit has also adopted this test. See Sellan, 261 F.3d at 314.
Moreover, the First and Tenth Circuits have explicitly held that when a properly raised federal claim is not adjudicated on the merits, the federal court should review the claim under the pre-AEDPA de novo standard of review. See DiBenedetto, 272 F.3d at 7 (“[f]aced with state court opinions that do not decide constitutional claims raised by the defendant, [our precedent] requires that federal courts apply de novo review to the federal constitutional claims raised in habeas petitions.”); La-Fevers, 182 F.3d at 711 (“If the claim was not heard on the merits by the state courts, and the federal district court made its own determination in the first instance, we review the district court’s conclusions of law de novo and its findings of fact, if any, for clear error.”). The Third and Fifth Circuits have hinted that they would follow the same course. See Hameen, 212 F.3d at 248 (applying “pre-AEDPA independent judgement” to a federal claim not adjudicated by the state court); Mercadel, 179 F.3d at 275 (although acknowledging that the state courts did not consider the federal claims, stating that it could “not proceed directly to a de novo review” of the federal claims because they were not exhausted.).
While our sister circuits apply “ § 2254(d)(l)-type deference”6 when a state court decides a petitioner’s federal claims, no matter how cursory the reasoning, we are the only Court that applies this section even when the state court does not decide the merits of such a claim. See Doan, 237 F.3d at 730-731. I believe that Doan was wrongly decided because in determining whether § 2254(d)(1) could coherently be applied to a situation like the present one, the panel in Doan overlooked that § 2254(d) first requires that a claim be “adjudicated on the merits.” Simply stated, any ordinary reading of the phrase “adjudicated on the merits” presupposes a state court decision that actually decides a petitioner’s federal claim. “Adjudication on the merits” has a clear meaning: “a decision finally resolving the parties’ claims, with res judicata effect, that is based on the substance of the claim advanced, rather than on a procedural, or other ground.” Sellan, 261 F.3d at 311. When a state court does not decide a federal claim, either because it overlooks it or finds procedural bars to reviewing the claim, there is no “decision finally resolving the parties’ claims.”
In a case like the present one, we should look for three .things: (1) whether the claim was disposed of substantively — ie. on the merits, (2) whether it was disposed of procedurally, either because of default or an independent and adequate state ground that makes adjudication of the federal claim unnecessary, and (3) whether *841the state courts simply overlooked a claim.7 Whether a claim was disposed of based on its substance or because of procedural reasons can be adequately determined by the test outlined by the Fifth Circuit. See Green, 116 F.3d at 1121.
We have repeatedly held that one panel of this Court cannot overturn a decision of another panel; only the Court sitting en banc may do so. See e.g. United States v. Smith, 73 F.3d 1414, 1419 (6th Cir.1996). Therefore, although I agree with the majority that we should apply § 2254(d)(1) to petitioner’s due process claims, I write separately to express my disagreement with Doan. The better approach, in my view, is the Fifth Circuit’s test that distinguishes between decisions disposing of a federal claim based on substantive or procedural grounds. WTiere a decision is on procedural grounds, de novo review of a properly raised federal habeas claim is appropriate, so long as independent and adequate state grounds do not otherwise decide the case.

. While I strongly disagree with the holding from Doan that controls this case, I do not believe that its reversal would yield a different result for the petitioner in this case. The Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that petitioner did not properly preserve his due process claim because he failed to object to introduction of the disputed testimony at trial. The Court of Appeals also ruled that introduction of this testimony was not in plain error, as its introduction was consistent with the defense’s trial strategy. Because the petitioner procedurally defaulted this claim, he would have to show cause and prejudice to overcome this procedural default. See e.g, Quintero v. Bell, 256 F.3d 409, 413 (6th Cir.2001). I do not believe that petitioner has met this burden.

. The habeas petition was denied on other grounds.

. See Doan, 237 F.3d at 730 ("The state court of appeals, because it found the Ohio evidence rule to be controlling, apparently did not deem it necessary to address Doan's federal constitutional argument.

. Doan requires that we only apply the "contrary to” clause of § 2254(d)(1) in our analysis. See id. at 731. According to Doan, the "unreasonable application” clause of § 2254(d)(1) does not govern our analysis because the Ohio Court of Appeals failed to "correctly identify the governing legal principle”. See id. at 730.

. The Second Circuit has twice discussed an apparent "circuit split” on this issue. See Sellan, 261 F.3d at 313 n. 5; Washington v. Schriver, 255 F.3d 45, 53 (2d Cir.2001). However, the Second Circuit did not distinguish between cases where a habeas court was determining whether a claim was decided at all and cases where a habeas court was determining the level of deference afforded cursory analysis of a federal claim by a state court.

. I use the term " § 2254(d)(l)-type deference” because of the ambiguity in how circuits apply this section when a state court decision only briefly mentions the federal claim with little or no reasoning. See e.g. Harris, 212 F.3d at 943 (stating that a federal court should conduct an independent review of a petitioner's federal claims if the state court's grounds for disposing of the claim are not apparent. "[T]he independent review, however, is not a full, de novo review of the claims An independent review that gives full § 2254(d)(1) deference to any possible grounds for affirming the state court would also seem unwarranted as a federal court would then be granting extreme deference not only to the grounds that the state court actually relied on, but all grounds that they could have relied on, no matter if that state court system had already rejected certain of those grounds.

. This was the situation, presented to the Third Circuit in Hameen. See Hameen, 212 F.3d at 247-248.