Capital case complications for SCOTUS

Lyle Denniston has this post at SCOTUSblog, entitled "Uncertainty on Texas death penalty cases," which follows up on Howard Bashman's post here about the interplay of the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court in a set of capital cases.  Here's how Lyle's post begins:

For more than a quarter of a century, the Supreme Court and the courts that review Texas death penalty cases have been carrying on a not-always-cordial exchange over the jury's role in weighing evidence that defense lawyers offer to try to head off capital punishment in that state. After four prior decisions on the subject, the Court agreed in October to step back into the controversy to try once more to resolve it. The Court has scheduled back-to-back hearings on the new cases for Jan. 17. Now, a series of developments in the Fifth Circuit Court is complicating this new review.