Stephen Danforth v. Minnesota

Subject:

Question:

1. Are state supreme courts required to use the standard announced in Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989), to determine whether United States Supreme Court decisions apply retroactively to state-court criminal cases, or may a state court apply state-law- or state-constitution-based retroactivity tests that afford application of Supreme Court decisions to a broader class of criminal defendants than the class defined by Teague?

2. Did Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), announce a "new rule of constitutional criminal procedure," as Teague defines that phrase and, if it did, was it a watershed rule of procedure subject to full retroactive application?

Decisions:

• Supreme Court of Minnesota, Opinion Filed: October 10, 2006
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: September 26, 2007

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket