The Supreme Court, breaking into unusual alliances, ruled Tuesday that federal judges, on their own initiative, can correct a state’s error in math and dismiss an inmate’s appeal that misses a filing deadline.
By a 5-4 vote, justices dealt a defeat to Florida inmate Patrick Day, who missed the deadline for seeking federal court review of his state second-degree murder conviction by three weeks. The decision marked the first time the Court’s newest member, Justice Samuel Alito, joined in a ruling since he came on the bench in late January.
Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts — President Bush’s nominees to the court — were part of a majority that included liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a frequent swing voter.
In an opinion written by Ginsburg, the majority said federal judges are not required to check the math a state uses to determine whether a prisoner has filed an appeal on time. But a judge who notices an error shouldn’t be required “to suppress that knowledge,” she wrote.
The Supreme Court, breaking into unusual alliances, ruled Tuesday that federal judges, on their own initiative, can correct a state’s error in math and dismiss an inmate’s appeal that misses a filing deadline.
By a 5-4 vote, justices dealt a defeat to Florida inmate Patrick Day, who missed the deadline for seeking federal court review of his state second-degree murder conviction by three weeks. The decision marked the first time the Court’s newest member, Justice Samuel Alito, joined in a ruling since he came on the bench in late January.
Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts — President Bush’s nominees to the court — were part of a majority that included liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a frequent swing voter.
In an opinion written by Ginsburg, the majority said federal judges are not required to check the math a state uses to determine whether a prisoner has filed an appeal on time. But a judge who notices an error shouldn’t be required “to suppress that knowledge,” she wrote.
The Supreme Court, breaking into unusual alliances, ruled Tuesday that federal judges, on their own initiative, can correct a state’s error in math and dismiss an inmate’s appeal that misses a filing deadline.
By a 5-4 vote, justices dealt a defeat to Florida inmate Patrick Day, who missed the deadline for seeking federal court review of his state second-degree murder conviction by three weeks. The decision marked the first time the Court’s newest member, Justice Samuel Alito, joined in a ruling since he came on the bench in late January.
Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts — President Bush’s nominees to the court — were part of a majority that included liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a frequent swing voter.
In an opinion written by Ginsburg, the majority said federal judges are not required to check the math a state uses to determine whether a prisoner has filed an appeal on time. But a judge who notices an error shouldn’t be required “to suppress that knowledge,” she wrote.
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