New SCOTUScast: Gonzalez v. Thaler
by SCOTUScaster
Posted January 25, 2012, 12:48 PM
On January 10, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Gonzalez v. Thaler. The case presented two questions arising under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). The first was whether a judge’s failure to “indicate” the constitutional issue that a state prisoner has raised in a habeas appeal deprives a court of subject-matter jurisdiction to hear that appeal. The second question was when a judgment becomes “final” for purposes of calculating the one-year limit that state prisoners have in which to file a federal habeas petition.
In an opinion delivered by Justice Sotomayor, the Court held 8-1 that (1) a judge’s failure to “indicate” the requisite constitutional issue raised by a state prisoner does not deprive a court jurisdiction to hear a state prisoner’s habeas appeal, and (2) for a state prisoner who does not seek review in the state’s highest court, judgment becomes final on the date that the time for seeking such review expires. On that basis, the Court affirmed the decision of the lower court that the state prisoner’s federal habeas petition was time-barred. Justice Scalia filed a dissenting opinion.
To discuss the case, we have Ozan Varol, visiting assistant professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.