01-1127 Lockyer v. Andrade O'Connor

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The California Court of Appeal’s decision was not “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of,” the clearly established gross disproportionality principle. First, a decision is contrary to clearly established precedent if the state court applied a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in this Court’s cases or confronts facts that are materially indistinguishable from a Court decision and nevertheless arrives at a different result. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405-406. Andrade’s sentence implicates factors relevant in both Rummel and Solem. Because Harmelin and Solem specifically stated that they did not overrule Rummel, it was not contrary to this Court’s clearly established law for the state court to turn to Rummel in deciding whether the sentence was grossly disproportionate. See Harmelin, supra, at 998 (Kennedy, J.). Also, the facts here fall in between Solem and Rummel but are not materially indistinguishable from either. Thus, the state court did not confront materially indistinguishable facts yet arrive at a different result. Second, under the “unreasonable application” clause, a federal habeas court may grant the writ if the state court identifies the correct governing legal principle but unreasonably applies it to the facts of the prisoner’s case. Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S., at 413. The state court decision must be objectively unreasonable, not just incorrect or erroneous. Id., at 409, 410, 412. Here, the Ninth Circuit erred in defining “objectively unreasonable” to mean “clear error.” While habeas relief can be based on an application of a governing legal principle to a set of facts different from those of the case in which the principle was announced, the governing legal principle here gives legislatures broad discretion to fashion a sentence that fits within the scope of the proportionality principle-the “precise contours” of which are “unclear.” Harmelin, supra, at 998 (Kennedy, J.). And it was not objectively unreasonable for the state court to conclude that these “contours” permitted an affirmance of Andrade’s sentence.

270 F.3d 743, reversed.

Local effect:

By holding that the Eighth Amendment law regarding disproportionality is unclear, the decision virtually precludes federal courts on habeas corpus review from ever holding a state court decision on the issue contrary to clearly established federal law, calling into question the conclusion in Henry v. Page, 223 F.3d 477 (7th Cir. 2000) that there exists clearly established law in this area.

J.; Souter, J., dissenting.