Justices Weigh Finality, Windfalls in Complex Capital Case (1)

The Supreme Court heard argument in its latest death penalty case on Dec. 11, in a complex dispute about weighing aggravating and mitigating factors in a capital case from Arizona that could affect 20 inmates in that state alone.

While the case comes to the justices against the heated backdrop of capital punishment, the outcome turns on a series of more nuanced questions involving, among other things, when and how courts should apply newer rules when older cases come up on appeal, and what it means for a case to be “final.”

But the oral argument suggested that the outcome ...