Justices to Settle Procedural Split on Courts’ Legal Errors

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a procedural question that could settle a split in the appeals courts over whether judges’ legal errors allow relief from final judgments.

Granting review of Dexter Kemp’s postconviction appeal on Monday, the justices can answer a question that he said has openly divided the lower courts for the last 50 years: whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(1) authorizes relief from judgment based on a court’s legal error.

The case arises from the district court’s rejection of Kemp’s postconviction motion as untimely. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit agreed it was timely but said the district court didn’t commit reversible error in dismissing it.

The Justice Department opposed review, contending that the issue Kemp complains of rarely arises.

The case is Kemp v. United States, U.S., 21-5726, review granted 1/10/22.