Justice Jackson Issues First SCOTUS Opinion in Dissent Over Death Row Inmate

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued her first opinion in a short dissent on Monday, saying she would have lent her support to a death row inmate in Ohio.

Jackson, an appointee of President Joe Biden and the most junior member of the court, wrote in a two-page opinion that she would have tossed out a lower court ruling in the case of Davel Chinn, whose legal counsel argued that the state suppressed evidence that may have altered the final verdict in his trial.

JUSTICE JACKSON ‘WORRIED ABOUT’ MINORITIES IF SUPREME COURT UNDOES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The latest justice, who is also the first black woman on the high court, wrote that “because Chinn’s life is on the line, and given the substantial likelihood that the suppressed record would have changed the outcome at trial based on the Ohio courts’ own representations,” she would have been in favor of additional proceedings in the case.

Jackson cited the concerns by attorneys for Chinn, who contended that a key witness in his trial had an intellectual disability that may have altered his memory and ability to present accurate testimony.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Without Marvin Washington, that state’s evidence was not strong enough to sustain confidence in either Chinn’s conviction or death sentenced,” lawyers with the Ohio Public Defender’s Office told the high court.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, was the only other member of the high court to join Jackson’s opinion. They also aligned in a dissent on Monday in Sotomayor’s opinion that there could be severe prosecutorial misconduct in a trial surrounding a Louisiana man who was convicted of sex trafficking.