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, 22:19, September 4, 2007
In ''Lawrence v. Florida'', 127 S. Ct. 1079 (2007), the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] (5-4) held that a state application is not still "pending" when the state courts have entered a final judgment on the matter but a petition for certiorari has been filed in this Court.
Congress established a 1-year statute of limitations for seeking federal habeas corpus relief from a state-court judgment, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d), and further provided that the limitations period is tolled while an "application for State post-conviction or other collateral review" "is pending," § 2244(d)(2).
The 5-4 Court, with the [[liberal]] wing dissenting, held that the limitations period is not tolled during the pending of a petition for [[certiorari]] before the [[U.S. Supreme Court]].
This creates a surprising "gotcha" for criminal defense attorneys who might expect the limitations period to be tolled during the pendency of a petition for appeal.
Justice [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]], writing for 4 Justices in dissent, stated:
:In sum, the majority's reading is neither compelled by the text of § 2244(d)(2) nor practically sound. By cutting off tolling before this Court has had an opportunity to consider a pending petition for certiorari, the Court's holding will unnecessarily encumber the federal courts with anticipatory filings and deprive unwitting litigants of the opportunity to pursue their constitutional claims -- all without furthering the purposes of AEDPA.
[[Category:United States Supreme Court Cases]]