Jalil Abdul-Kabir, Fka Ted Calvin Cole v. Nathaniel Quarterman, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division

Decided April 25, 2007. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-11284 · 550 U.S. 233 (2007) · Cited 332 times

Holding

Because there is a reasonable likelihood that the state trial court’s instructions prevented jurors from giving meaningful consideration to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence, the CCA’s merits adjudication “resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by Court,” 28 U.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Penry v. Lynaugh · 492 U.S. 302 (1989)
• Graham v. Collins · 506 U.S. 461 (1993)
• Johnson v. Texas · 509 U.S. 350 (1993)
• Franklin v. Lynaugh · 487 U.S. 164 (1988)
• Jurek v. Texas · 428 U.S. 262 (1976)
• Lockett v. Ohio · 438 U.S. 586 (1978)
• Tennard v. Dretke, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division · 542 U.S. 274 (2004)
• Eddings v. Oklahoma · 455 U.S. 104 (1982)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Hitchcock v. Dugger · 481 U.S. 393 (1987)
• Saffle v. Parks · 494 U.S. 484 (1990)
• Smith v. Texas · 543 U.S. 37 (2004)
• Proffitt v. Florida · 428 U.S. 242 (1976)
• Penry v. Johnson · 532 U.S. 782 (2001)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 362 (2000)
• Skipper v. South Carolina · 476 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Woodson v. North Carolina · 428 U.S. 280 (1976)
• Brewer v. Quarterman · 550 U.S. 286 (2007)
• California v. Brown · 479 U.S. 538 (1987)
• Lockyer v. Andrade · 538 U.S. 63 (2003)
• Yarborough v. Alvarado · 541 U.S. 652 (2004)
• Boyde v. California · 494 U.S. 370 (1990)
• Walton v. Arizona · 497 U.S. 639 (1990)
• Felker v. Turpin · 518 U.S. 651 (1996)
• Mitchell v. Esparza · 540 U.S. 12 (2003)
• Brown v. Payton · 544 U.S. 133 (2005)
• Oregon v. Guzek · 546 U.S. 517 (2006)
• Ayers v. Belmontes · 549 U.S. 7 (2006)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Brewer v. Quarterman · 550 U.S. 286 (2007)
• Schriro v. Landrigan · 550 U.S. 465 (2007)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2007). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).