Supreme Court limits federal habeas review

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday ruled [opinion, PDF] in Cullen v. Pinholster [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] that review under the federal habeas law is limited to the record that was before the state court, reinstating the death penalty for a convicted man. The court’s ruling reversed an en banc decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which held that the evidentiary hearing before a federal habeas court was not barred by…