Opinion ID: 3064892
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Commencement of a New Limitations Period

Text: Beginning October 1, 2003 AEDPA provides that if “the applicant was prevented from filing” a federal habeas petition by an “impediment . . . created by State action in violation of the Constitution or laws of RAMIREZ v. YATES 8641 the United States,” the limitations period will commence anew from “the date on which the impediment to filing . . . is removed.” 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(B). Ramirez argues that he is entitled to the commencement of a new limitations period beginning on October 1, 2003, because his placement in administrative segregation and its attendant limitations on his access to his legal file and the prison law library amounted to an unlawful impediment to his “ ‘constitutional right of access to the courts.’ ” See Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 346 (1996) (quoting Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 828 (1977)). [9] Although similar in style, Ramirez’s 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(B) claim must satisfy a far higher bar than that for equitable tolling. He may be entitled to equitable tolling during the period he was without his legal materials if the deprivation of his legal materials made it impossible for him to file a timely § 2254 petition in federal court. There is no constitutional right to file a timely § 2254 petition, however—Ramirez is entitled to the commencement of a new limitations period under § 2244(d)(1)(B) only if his placement in administrative segregation altogether prevented him from presenting his claims in any form, to any court. See generally Lewis, 518 U.S. at 350-51. [10] Ramirez cannot make this showing. In the first place, in the time before February 26, 2003 and after October 1, 2003, Ramirez filed three state petitions presenting his constitutional claims in various forms to competent state courts. What is more, during the same period he suggests the state’s action unconstitutionally denied him access to the courts, he filed an extensive and well-researched motion in federal court requesting AEDPA’s limitations period be tolled and a successful discovery motion in the California Superior Court. Accordingly, Ramirez’s administrative segregation did not deny Ramirez his “constitutional right of access to the courts.” Bounds, 430 U.S. at 828. 8642 RAMIREZ v. YATES