Israel Weingarten v. United States

There are two related questions presented: (1) whether the Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. 259 (2000), test for determining whether appellate counsel provided deficient representation under the Sixth Amendment applies when assessing the performance of trial counsel; and (2) whether a criminal defendant who asserts that trial counsel’s failure to raise a legal claim amounted to deficient performance must show that the claim was certain to succeed under “controlling authority,” as the Second Circuit holds, or that the failure to raise the claim was contrary to “prevailing professional norms,” as Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), holds and as is supported by the case law of several other circuits.