Hamm v. Smith · ¶140
Although Hall and Moore announced rules about treating a single test score as dispositive, this Court has never explained when courts may treat multiple scores as cumulatively dispositive. Hamm v. Smith, 604 U. S. 1, 2 (2024) (per curiam). Our silence on this issue leaves courts without direction on how to address a recurring situation. Because defendants raising Atkins claims have usually taken multiple IQ tests, courts must often apply a 70-IQ cutoff to a defendant with several scores. See, e. g., Smith v. Ryan, 813 F. 3d 1175, 1183–1184 (CA9 2016) (five scores); State v. Escalante-Orozco, 241 Ariz. 254, 290, 386 P. 3d 798, 834 (2017) (four scores); Black v. Carpenter, 866 F. 3d 734, 737–738 (CA6 2017) (10 scores); Jackson v. Payne, 9 F. 4th 646, 653 (CA8 2021) (four scores). See also Pet. for Cert. in Saldano v. Texas, O. T. 2025, No. 25–5749, p. 6 (four scores). By Smith's count,…Read in context ›
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