Court Opinion

ID: 9491808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:24:25.595394+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:57.348116
License: Public Domain

PAUL KELLY, Jr., Circuit Judge,
Concurring.
In my view, the certificate of appealability procedures followed in this case deserve further comment. No specific request for an expanded COA was filed and the cover of Mr. Ross’ brief-in-chief did not indicate that such a request was being made. Only in the concluding sentence of each section of his brief-in-chief does Mr. Ross request a COA on each of the issues for which the district court declined to grant a COA. In its answer brief, respondent only addressed the three issues within the scope of the district court’s COA.
This court does not hear and decide issues on which a COA has not been granted. See Lackey v. Johnson, 116 F.3d 149, 151 (5th Cir.1997) (“A plain reading of the AEDPA compels the conclusion that COAs are granted on an issue-by-issue basis, thereby limiting appellate review to those issues alone.”); see also Ramsey v. Bowersox, 149 F.3d 749, 759 (8th Cir.1998) (“[A]ppellate review of the habeas denial is limited to the specified issues” in the COA.); Murray v. United States, 145 F.3d 1249, 1250 (11th Cir.1998) (following Lackey and concluding that “there would be little point in Congress requiring specification of the issues for which a COA was granted if appellate review was not limited to the issues specified”).
Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 22(b) provides that:
If the district judge has denied the certificate, the applicant for the writ may then request issuance of the certificate by a circuit judge. If such a request is addressed to the court of appeals, it shall be deemed addressed to the judges thereof and shall be considered by a circuit judge or judges as the court deems appropriate. If no express request for a certificate is filed, the notice of appeal shall be deemed to constitute a request addressed to the judges of the court of appeals.
In non-capital cases, our rules provide that we may require a separate application for a COA on a form provided by the court. See 10th Cir. R. 22.1(A) (eff. Jan. 1, 1999); see also 10th Cir. R. 22.1 (eff. Jan. 1, 1996) (analogous rule for a certificate of probable *803cause), supplemented by Emergency General Order (10th Cir. Oct. 1, 1996). The purpose of this rule is to provide “information that can help the court decide whether a [COA] should be issued.” 10th Cir. R. 22.1(A). In capital cases, particularly where an execution date has been scheduled, we have not required a separate request for a COA, see 10th Cir. R. 22.2(C)(1); see also 10th Cir. 22.2.3 (eff. Jan. 1,1996) (analogous rule for a certificate of probable cause).
. Where the district court has granted a COA in a capital case on some issues, but not on others, it seems to me that it is preferable for a petitioner to include a separate request for an expanded COA with his filing or, at the very least, to indicate that an expanded COA is being requested. This would alert the court of appeals of the need to rule on such a request so that any briefing beyond the issues identified in the district court’s COA may be briefed by a respondent. A respondent should not be required to and indeed is prohibited from addressing issues for which a COA will not issue. See Emergency General Order (10th Cir. Oct. 1, 1996). Additionally, a respondent has a right to brief those issues on which this court grants a COA. With this comment, I join the court’s opinion.