It's an en banc criminal case in the Ninth Circuit. One side argues for giving respect to the actions and determinations of state courts. Comity's a good thing, they say. The other side says, no, federal courts should enforce federal law. Don't let states get in the way. A classic liberal-conservative split.
Except the sides are opposite from what you'd usually expect. Here's it's the liberals arguing for comity and the conservatives saying that we should ignore what the state court did. Because unlike the typical habeas case, here, the state courts have diminished the sentence of a criminal defendant.
So the liberals argue for comity and the conservative say that value's overblown.
Nah. These things aren't political or results-oriented.
Just calling balls and strikes.
