The scandal is what’s legal
By 
We recently discussed the case of Aerli Escobar, who was convicted based on systematically unreliable evidence dishonestly presented. The DA and a local district judge agreed that a new trial was necessary, but the lawless Texas Court (sic) of Criminal Appeals reversed in an unpublished per curiam opinion. This conduct was so egregious even the 2023 version of the Supreme Court not only took the case but vacated the CCA opinion.
The sobering reality is that the CCA had very good reason to think it could get away with it:
As obvious as this move may seem, it was no guarantee. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals defied SCOTUS in 2019 and got away with it just last year. It’s not alone. Since Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have been confirmed, lower courts have rubber-stamped convictions, especially in capital cases, that shock the conscience just as much as Escobar’s. Consider, for instance, Andre Lee Thomas and Kristopher Love, two Black men convicted by openly racist and virulently bigoted jurors. Or Terence Andrus, another Black man, whose wildly incompetent lawyer failed to present mitigating evidence that probably would have saved his life. Or Barry Lee Jones, who was denied the opportunity to prove that he is almost certainly innocent. The Supreme Court authorized all these men to be killed. Lower courts see these decisions and decide to take them a step further.
Until SCOTUS reins in this pro-death activism, it will continue to facilitate these grievous injustices. And the vast majority of victims will not have the benefit of a progressive prosecutor like Garza to help them make their case. Escobar’s victory is heartening, no doubt. But it is remarkable chiefly because this Supreme Court so rarely respects the rights of equally deserving defendants
This reminds me of Orval Faubus being very surprised when Eisenhower sent the Screaming Eagles into Little Rock to enforce a desegregation order, which was perfectly rational since this was literally the only thing Ike did during his entire administration to enforce Brown (including even lending the Supreme Court any verbal support.)
The Supreme Court’s Republicans having some baseline that can’t be crossed in their fanatical zeal to send as many people to the death chamber as possible is better than nothing, but not close to good enough.