The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of an Arizona death row inmate who argued he should be able to challenge his sentence in federal court but was stopped from doing so by a state procedural rule. “Although this is a very technical ruling, its basic gist is that state supreme courts can’t rely upon novel state procedural rules to prevent state prisoners from bringing federal constitutional claims,” said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “Although this is a very technical ruling, its basic gist is that state supreme courts can’t rely upon novel state procedural rules to prevent state prisoners from bringing federal constitutional claims,” said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law