context: The policy of the United States Supreme Court is that "[w]hen a fragmented Court decides a case and no single rationale explaining the result enjoys the assent of five Justices, the holding of the Court may be viewed as that position taken by those Members who con curred in the judgments on the narrowest grounds." The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, though taking a narrower view, has differentiated between the reasoning of a plurality decision, which is not binding authority, and the "conclusion" of such a decision, which is still "binding on the parties in that particular case."
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.parenthetical: looking to the "last explained state-court judgment" to determine state courts' basis for rejecting a habeas petitioner's claims, ignoring only a "silent" disposition by a higher court
citation_a.sentence: See Ylst v. Nunnemaker, 501 U.S. 797, 805, 111 S.Ct. 2590, 115 L.Ed.2d 706 (1991) (looking to the “last explained state-court judgment” to determine state courts’ basis for rejecting a habeas petitioner’s claims, ignoring only a “silent” disposition by a higher court).
citation_b.signal: cf.
citation_b.parenthetical: treating state supreme court decision as "last reasoned decision" as to claims that it explicitly decided, and state appeals court ruling as "last reasoned decision" as to claims the supreme court declined to address
citation_b.sentence: Cf. Holley v. Yarborough, 568 F.3d 1091, 1099 (9th Cir.2009) (reviewing a state appellate court decision in an AEDPA case where the state supreme court had denied the petition for review of that decision without comment); Joseph v. Coyle, 469 F.3d 441 (6th Cir.2006) (treating state supreme court decision as “last reasoned decision” as to claims that it explicitly decided, and state appeals court ruling as “last reasoned decision” as to claims the supreme court declined to address). Therefore, we look to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in our review under AEDPA.