When Does the Habeas Statute of Limitations Begin to Run?
The Supreme Court hears argument today in the case of Jimenez v. Quarterman (No. 07-6994). The case requires the Court to determine what triggers the one-year statute of limitations for federal habeas corpus claims. Congress imposed the one-year limitation in 1996, hoping to diminish the number and success of challenges in federal court to state convictions. The statute, in pertinent part, provides that the one-year clock for filing a federal claim begins to run on “the date on which the [state] judgment became final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.” This may seem straightforward enough, but Jimenez’s case highlights an ambiguity.