Orin S. Kerr | 8.9.2024 6:02 PM

Like a lot of people, I think that the Supreme Court's ruling in Robinson v. California (1962) is a mess. It's a due process decision presented as an Eighth Amendment ruling. With that said, I disagree with my colleague Josh Blackman's view that the case is entitled to no precedential weight because it turned out that Robinson had died in 1961, before the Court took the case. Josh writes:

Jurisdiction can be raised at any time, even after death. The Court lacked jurisdiction to decide Robinson v. California because there was no actual case or controversy. The state was prosecuting a dead body. Robinson gives new meaning to habeas corpus. That decision is entitled to no precedential weight. I think the California Attorney General could, in theory at least, petition to vacate Robinson on those grounds. That probably won't happen. But........

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