Tom L. Carey, Warden v. Tony Eugene Saffold (536 U.S. 214)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 2002 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 536 U.S. 214 · 122 S. Ct. 2134
- Decided
- June 17, 2002
- Term
- October Term 2001
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) requires a state prisoner seeking a federal habeas corpus remedy to file his federal petition within one year after his state conviction has become “final.” 28 U. S. C. § 2244(d)(1)(A). The statute adds, however, that the 1-year period does not include the time during which an application for state collateral review is “pending” in the state courts. § 2244(d)(2). This case raises three questions related to the statutory word “pending”: (1) Does that word cover the time between a lower state court’s decision and the filing of a notice of appeal to a higher state court? (2) If so, does it apply similarly to California’s unique state collateral review system — a system that does not involve a notice of appeal, but rather the filing (within a reasonable time) of a further original state habeas petition in a higher court? (3) If so, was the petition at issue here (filed in the California Supreme Court 4V2 months after the lower state court reached its decision) pending during that period, or was it no longer pending because it failed to comply with state timeliness rules? We answer the first two questions affirmatively, while remanding the case to the Court of Appeals for its further consideration of the third. I In 1990 Tony Saffold, the respondent, was…
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