Guerrero v. Johnson

Overview

Dexter Johnson, on Texas death row, seeks to bring a second federal habeas petition raising an intellectual-disability claim under Atkins v. Virginia, which is normally barred as successive unless it rests on a new, previously unavailable rule of constitutional law. The Fifth Circuit held that a claim counts as previously unavailable only if it had a realistic chance of succeeding earlier, deepening a split with other circuits. The Supreme Court will decide how that gatekeeping rule applies.