The Supreme Court has yet to release its late-May calendar, but we see that Robinson v. Lewis will be on it.  That’s significant because the case is on referral from the Ninth Circuit and the federal appellate court has been waiting a really long time for an answer to the state law question it asked.

The question — concerning the timeliness of a prisoner’s state habeas corpus petition, that in turn is important in determining the timeliness of the prisoner’s subsequent federal habeas petition — was first posed 12 years ago in another case, one which the Supreme Court declined to take.  It’s now been well over four years since the court agreed to answer the (re-asked) question in Robinson and the case has been fully briefed since October 2016.

Related:

The Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court:  It’s about time

What was the question again?

A bit more waiting for an answer to the Ninth Circuit’s habeas question

Supreme Court will answer Ninth Circuit habeas question

Taking longer than expected

The inquisitive Ninth Circuit asks for Supreme Court help again, this time regarding habeas procedure