Cert granted in Bell case from Virginia

An order came down from the U.S. Supreme Court today granting certiorari on the first issue in what is now called Bell v. Kelly, the post-conviction appeals of the Winchester murder case.

The AP has this report, and SCOTUSBlog has this post with links to the court filings.

The first issue in the petition is this: "Did the Fourth Circuit err when, in conflict with decisions of the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, it applied the deferential standard of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), which is reserved for claims 'adjudicated on the merits' in state court, to evaluate a claim predicated on evidence of prejudice the state court refused to consider and that was properly received for the first time in a federal evidentiary hearing?"

So, a plunge into the savage heart of standard of review jurisprudence.