WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has spent nearly six months wrestling with a dispute between an Arizona judge and the man she sentenced to death for killing a librarian.

It’s not clear why the court so far has been unable to decide what to do with the case of convicted killer Richard Hurles and his claim that Judge Ruth Hilliard was biased against him and should not have presided over his trial or sentencing. The dispute’s roots are in the judge’s denial of a second lawyer to help in Hurles’ capital defense and her defense of that ruling in subsequent judicial proceedings.