Court to hear habeas case
on Mar 27, 2006 at 10:02 am
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on one new case — a test of the one-year filing deadline for pursuing a habeas challenge in federal court. The main issue, in the case of Lawrence v. Florida (05-8820, is whether the filing period is suspended while a state prison inmate has a post-conviction petition for review pending in the Supreme Court.
The case involves a Florida death row inmate, Gary Lawrence, who was convicted of the beating death of a man who had been intimate with Lawrence’s wife, after the Lawrence couple had separated.
Once more, the Court took no action on Jose Padilla’s appeal challenging his capture and detention as an “enemy combatant” in the war on terrorism. The Court has examined Padilla v. Hanft (05-533) seven times without announcing any action on it.
As the Court opened its session, it noted the retirement last July 1 of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. With O’Connor sitting in the Justices’ guest area, an exchange of letters was read from the bench. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., first read a letter from him to O’Connor, transmitting a letter her pre-Roberts colleague had written to her. Justice John Paul Stevens then read the colleagues’ letter, and Roberts concluded by reading a response from Justice O’Connor.
Among the cases denied review was an appeal by The New York Times, seeking to head off a libel and emotional distress lawsuit in Virginia federal court. The lawsuit was filed by Stephen J. Hatfill, a former Army research scientist, complaining of columns in The Times that he said created the impression that he was involved in the deadly anthrax attack on Washington in late 2001. After the case was dismissed in District Court, the Fourth Circuit Court revived it; en banc review in the Circuit Court was denied on a 6-6 vote. The Supreme Court case was New York Times v. Hatfill (05-897).
