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584 So. 2d 455

State v. Coleman

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided May 24, 1991

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1991-05-24

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently October 1995

2 state decisions

Relies on Grady v. Corbin

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1991-05-24

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HOUSTON, Justice

¶1(dissenting).

¶2I cannot distinguish this case from Grady v. Corbin, 495 U.S. 508, 110 S.Ct. 2084, 109 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990). I personally agree with Justice Scalia’s dissent in Grady, 495 U.S. at -, 110 S.Ct. at 2096-2105; however, at this time that is a dissent and not the law.

¶3The second paragraph in Article VI of the Constitution of the United States provides:

“This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; ... shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any thing in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

¶4If I were writing on a clean slate, freed from the deference that I do and must give to the opinions of the United States Supreme Court, I would vote to deny the petition for a writ of prohibition. However, I have given my solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as I understand it, and that includes the second paragraph of Article VI; therefore, I must dissent.

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