The United States Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to a review a state court decision that remands the case for further proceedings. Here the published portion of the California Court of Appeal decision addressed a Wheeler/Batson issue, which was subsequently also addressed by the California Supreme Court, resulting in a “remand for further proceedings.” The unpublished portion of the Court of Appeal opinion had addressed other issues for the guidance of the trial court on remand. Because the petition for certiorari included only the published portion of the Court of Appeal opinion, the United States Supreme Court had granted the petition without being aware that the California courts opinion was not “final” within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1257. The Court thus dismissed the matter for want of jurisdiction.
Case Summaries