Rafael Arriaza Gonzales v. Rick Thaler, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division (565 U.S. 134)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 10, 2012 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 565 U.S. 134 · 132 S. Ct. 641
- Decided
- January 10, 2012
- Term
- October Term 2011
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Sotomayor
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court. This case interprets two provisions of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). The first, 28 U. S. C. § 2253(c), provides that a habeas petitioner must obtain a certificate of appealability (COA) to appeal a federal district court’s final order in a habeas proceeding. § 2253(c)(1). The COA may issue only if the petitioner has made a “substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right,” § 2253(c)(2), and “shall indicate which specific issue” satisfies that showing, § 2253(c)(3). We hold that § 2253(c)(3) is not a jurisdictional requirement. Accordingly, a judge’s failure to “indicate” the requisite constitutional issue in a COA does not deprive a court of appeals of subject-matter jurisdiction to adjudicate the habeas petitioner’s appeal. The second provision, 28 U. S. C. § 2244(d)(1)(A), establishes a 1-year limitations period for state prisoners to file federal habeas petitions, running from “the date on which the judgment became final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.” We hold that, for a state prisoner who does not seek review in a State’s highest court, the judgment becomes “final” on the date that the time for seeking such review expires. Petitioner Rafael Gonzalez was convicted of murder m Texas state court. The intermediate…
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