Dixon v. Duffy, Warden (344 U.S. 143)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 8, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 344 U.S. 143 · 73 S. Ct. 193
- Decided
- December 8, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Vinson
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court. This case originated on October 21, 1950, when petitioner, a prisoner in San Quentin, filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of California. That court, summarily, but with two dissents, denied the application. To review this decision, petitioner applied to this Court for certiorari. The Court granted the petition, 341 U. S. 938, and thereafter appointed counsel to represent the petitioner. 342 U. S. 805. The Attorney General of California appeared for respondent. At the bar of this Court, he argued that the judgment of the Supreme Court of California rested on an adequate nonfederal ground. Admitting that habeas corpus is ordinarily an available means to California prisoners to challenge the constitutionality of the proceedings which resulted in their incarceration, the Attorney General told us that the writ was unavailable in this particular case, to this particular petitioner because he could have and should have presented his federal claim in an appeal from his original conviction. Counsel for petitioner vigorously opposed this contention, insisting that habeas corpus was an available remedy under California law, that the federal question was properly before the court. This Court, of course, does not sit to determine matters of state law; nor is it the appropriate forum to resolve…
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