In a decision announced this morning, Johnson v. United States, the Supreme Court decided by a 5-4 vote that the statute of limitations that sets when a federal prisoner can challenge his sentence if it was enhanced based on a since-vacated prior state conviction starts to run when the prisoner receives notice that the state court conviction was vacated — provided that the prisoner exercised due diligence in state court after entry of judgment in the federal case.
Okay, so it’s not exactly a hot button issue. Still, the vote line-up was rather unusual: Justice Souter wrote the majority opinion joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice O’Connor, Justice Thomas, and Justice Breyer. Justice Kennedy wrote the dissenting opinion, which offered a more defendant-friendly approach that did not require due diligence by the prisoner, and was joined by Justice Stevens, Justice Scalia, and Justice Ginsburg.
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