Supreme Court Eyes High Bar for New Evidence in Habeas Petitions

Supreme Court justices appeared likely to overwhelmingly rule in support of enforcing strong limits on federal habeas claims, even when a defendant brings new evidence to light.

The question for the justices during argument on Monday was whether the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act’s high bar for bringing “second or successive” habeas petitions in federal court apply when the district court has denied the previous filing but before the appellate process is complete.

Federal appeals courts are split, with most interpreting a “mid-appeal” filing as a successive petition that state prisoners are generally barred from bringing.

Justice Clarence Thomas ...