What is AEDPA?

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and its acronym, “AEDPA,” are often encountered and invoked in federal habeas corpus law.

          But what exactly is AEDPA?

President Bill Clinton signed AEDPA into law on April 24, 1996. [1] The first provision of the law was titled “habeas corpus reform.” [2] AEDPA added section (d) to 28 U.S.C. 2244 which added the one-year timeframe for a habeas corpus petitioner who was in custody pursuant to the judgment of a state court and a one-year timeframe to 28 U.S.C. 2255 for federal prisoners. [3] AEDPA also significantly limited the availability of second or successive petitions by requiring the petitioner to get an order from the appropriate circuit court of appeals and limiting the grounds to newly discovered evidence or a new rule of constitutional law made retroactive to the states by the Supreme Court which was previously unavailable. [4] Finally, AEDPA also limited the circumstances where a state petitioner seeking federal relief could receive an evidentiary hearing. [5]

Stated simply, the path to relief was made even more narrow, even more perilous, and even more laden with “gotcha’s.” In the years after AEDPA’s enactment, courts worked out various meanings and applications to state law such as what constitutes a “properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral review” under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2).

          What does this all mean?

As the Supreme Court stated,

“[i]n enacting AEDPA in 1996, Congress imposed for the first time a fixed time limit for collateral attacks in federal court on a judgment of conviction.” [6]

This is a time limit that state and federal prisoners should take very, very seriously. As hard as it may be to learn and survive the landscape of the new normal in prison, it is important to be diligent in promptly litigating your case. After the time limit expires, it’s just you and the time left to do with very limited exceptions.

If you or someone you love is in state or federal prison and in need of habeas corpus assistance, contact Peter Armstrong, Attorney at Law, for a free consultation.

Citations:

1.    John H. Blume, AEDPA: The Hype and the Bite, 91 Cornell L. Rev. 259, at 259 (2006). (https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3015&context=clr)

2.    Text: S.735 — 104th Congress (1995-1996). (https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/senate-bill/735/text)

3.    Id.

4.    Id.

5.    Id.

6.    Mayle v. Felix, 545 U.S. 644, 654 (2005). (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/545/644/)