Opinion ID: 178214
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Giving the State More Protection Than It Sought

Text: By construing the tolling provision as it did, the panel disregarded the very interests that the provision was meant to protect. It is, after all, the State's interests that the tolling provision seeks to protect. 536 U.S. at 223, 122 S.Ct. 2134. The state courts concluded that the right and fair thing to do was to extend Griffith's time to seek review on the merits in this murder case with a life sentence. That decision deserves federal respect, particularly when the extension was needed not because of counsel's negligence but because of counsel's illness. But under the panel's interpretation of the tolling provision, it does not matter what the state's interests might be. No matter the state court's reason for granting a retroactive extension of time to appeal, the federal clock continues to run. For example, if a prison riot or a natural disaster prevented a prisoner from filing a petition for leave to appeal or a request for an extension of time to file within the time set by state rule, the federal clock apparently would run at least until the state prisoner was able to file a late petition for leave to appeal, if not longer. I recognize that there might be some room to argue for equitable tolling in such extreme cases. I also recognize that Griffith's lawyers took a chance by waiting until what they thought was the last day to file his federal petition. But federal law does not require the panel's result, and I believe the Supreme Court decisions discussed above point in the direction of honoring the state court's decision to allow a retroactive extension of time. Finally, I note that Griffith has also sought rehearing en banc on the question whether a claim for actual innocence provides an exception to the statute of limitations in section 2244(d). Our circuit has said no, and there is already a circuit split on this issue. See Araujo v. Chandler, 435 F.3d 678, 681 (7th Cir.2005) (reviewing split); see also Lee v. Lampert, 610 F.3d 1125, 1128 (9th Cir.2010) (same). Regardless of the merits of that question, I agree with my colleagues that we should not rehear this case en banc to decide whether we should move from one side of the split to the other; that issue is now ripe for Supreme Court resolution.