Prisoner appeal rights
McCord v. Thorpe
In brief
- Where it stands
- Dismissed
Petition denied.
- What it’s about
- Anthony McCord asks the Supreme Court to review whether the Second Circuit could refuse him permission to appeal his challenge to his imprisonment because his constitutional claim conflicted with that court’s earlier rulings.
- Who it affects
- The Supreme Court will not review McCord's request, and its order does not decide whether the Second Circuit could deny permission to appeal on that basis.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
His filing says other federal appeals courts support the claim and argues that this should make it debatable enough to appeal.
A certificate of appealability is permission a prisoner must get to appeal a federal court's decision on a challenge to imprisonment.
Question presented
Whether a federal court of appeals, in evaluating a motion for a certificate of appealability under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2), may treat a habeas petitioner’s constitutional claim as not debatable on the ground that it is in tension with that particular circuit’s precedent, when the petitioner’s claim finds direct support in decisions of other federal courts of appeals—notwithstanding this Court’s holdings in McKnight v. General Motors Corp., 511 U.S. 659 (1994), Lozada v. Deeds, 498 U.S. 430 (1991), and Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880 (1983), that a claim supported by contrary authority from other courts is, by definition, “debatable among jurists of reason”?
Documents
Docket activity
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AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
AI analysis generated: Decision Record
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Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.