Richards

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ARTHUR L. SMITH, JR.,  No. 07-35857 Petitioner-Appellant, v.  D.C. No.

CV-07-05039-RBL

HENRY RICHARDS,

OPINION

Respondent-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Ronald B. Leighton, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 13, 2009—Seattle, Washington

Filed June 23, 2009

Before: William A. Fletcher, Ronald M. Gould and Richard C. Tallman, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Tallman Allen M. Ressler, Ressler & Tesh, PLLC, Seattle, Washing- ton, for the petitioner.

Gregory J. Rosen, Assistant Attorney General, Corrections Division, Olympia, Washington, for the respondent.

OPINION

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether a pending detainer in one state renders invalid a sex offender’s civil commitment in another state. Arthur Smith, a detainee at Washington’s Special Com- mitment Center on McNeil Island, appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253, and we affirm.

I

In 1993, a King County…