The Ninth Circuit had been waiting quite a while for the Supreme Court to explain how to determine the timeliness of a prisoner’s state habeas corpus petition, which in turn is important in determining the timeliness of the prisoner’s subsequent federal habeas petition. The Supreme Court finally agreed to help out the federal appeals court, but even the wait since then has been inordinately long.
The Ninth Circuit first asked for help more than a decade ago (Chaffer v. Prosper (9th Cir. 2008) 542 F.3d 662), but the Supreme Court turned down the request, and the rejection took six months, which was an unusual delay in itself. In 2015, the Ninth Circuit asked again, stating that the issue is “of exceptional importance to both federal and California courts.” This time, although once more taking longer than normal to respond, the Supreme Court — in Robinson v. Lewis — said “yes.”
The court agreed to answer the Ninth Circuit’s question in Robinson, but, even so, the wait since then has been a long one, with no end in sight. First, the court put the case on hold while it decided whether to restate the federal court’s question. Then, when it did restate the question, it took more than six months to do so.
It has now been over three years since the Supreme Court took the Robinson case and the matter has not yet been scheduled for argument. In fact, the court hasn’t even sent out an oral argument letter, which indicates that a hearing is still months away at the earliest.
The Ninth Circuit’s question is about time, and it’s about time that the Supreme Court answered it.
Related:
“U.S. judges say California’s top court is jeopardizing constitutional rights”
