DC Courts Aren’t State Courts for Motions for Federal Relief

An inmate may still challenge his incarceration even though he wasn’t given permission to appeal the denial of his request for federal relief as required by law, an appeals court said.

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act., a certificate of appealability is normally required to appeal a ruling if the petitioner’s detention “arises out of process issued by a State court,” according to the court. But an inmate who lacked that paperwork was challenging a decision by the District of Columbia Superior Court, which isn’t a state court for purposes of the statute, the US Court of Appeals ...