Emergency application
Federal review of state convictions
Richard Graham, Warden v. Jeremiah Antoine Sweeney
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on May 23, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.
What's being asked
Maryland Warden Richard Graham and Attorney General Anthony Brown ask the Supreme Court to temporarily pause the Fourth Circuit's ruling. They want the pause while preparing to ask the Court to review the case. Sweeney challenges his 2011 Maryland convictions for second-degree murder, attempted murders, and handgun offenses; he received life plus 30 years. The state officials say the appeals court gave him relief on grounds he had not raised and failed to apply the required federal standard.
What the Court did
The Court refused the temporary pause and denied the application (turned down the request). Its order gave no reason, and the Court did not publish how the justices voted.
What it means
This emergency ruling decides only whether to grant a temporary pause; it does not decide who wins the underlying case. The Fourth Circuit's ruling is not paused. The record lists Sweeney's conditional-release request and a teleconference order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. No related Supreme Court case is listed, and the application was not set for argument.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1099. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.