Victor Saldano v. Texas

Victor Saldano is asking whether Texas courts can use a new reading of a state rule to block review of his claim that he is intellectually disabled and cannot be executed. The petition says the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals used a procedural barrier — a rule that stops courts from reaching the merits — that was novel and unforeseeable.

No oral argument is scheduled. The petition argues Texas created a new and unforeseeable bar to review of Saldano's intellectual-disability claim after Moore I and Moore II rejected Texas's old Briseno approach.

The fight is about whether people facing execution can still get a real review of an intellectual-disability claim when a state court changes the rules. A person on death row could lose a chance to show that outdated standards wrongly put him at risk of execution.

It asks whether Texas can use a new state procedural rule to block review of Saldano's intellectual-disability claim. The petition says that barrier was unforeseeable and unfair.

People on death row raising intellectual-disability claims could lose a merits review of whether the Constitution forbids their execution. That risk is especially serious when older medical standards have already been rejected.

No oral argument is scheduled, and no decision window is listed. Watch for a scheduling move or other docket action from the Court.