NEWS (4/​13/​20) — Washington, D.C.: U.S. Attorney General William Barr has issued a reg­u­la­to­ry order, retroac­tive to 1998, cer­ti­fy­ing the state of Arizona as an ​“opt-in” state under the fed­er­al habeas cor­pus statute. The opt-in pro­vi­sion of the habeas cor­pus law rewards states that are deemed to pro­vide ade­quate state-court rep­re­sen­ta­tion of death-row pris­on­ers by short­en­ing the time peri­od for bring­ing fed­er­al chal­lenges to cap­i­tal con­vic­tions and death sen­tences from one year to six months and lim­it­ing the issues that death-row pris­on­ers may present in their federal appeals. 

The opt-in law requires pris­on­ers who appeal cer­ti­fi­ca­tion deci­sions to bring that chal­lenge in fed­er­al court in Washington, D.C. Lawyers for the pris­on­ers have indi­cat­ed that they will be appeal­ing the Department of Justice (DOJ) cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. A law­suit brought by eleven Arizona death-row pris­on­ers chal­leng­ing the DOJ’s opt-in reg­u­la­to­ry process was already pend­ing in Arizona fed­er­al dis­trict court at the time of the opt-in dec­la­ra­tion. That suit alleges that DOJ uti­lized improp­er reg­u­la­to­ry pro­ce­dures to deprive the pris­on­ers of the pro­ce­dur­al safe­guards required in fed­er­al habeas corpus proceedings. 

Sources

Read the Department of Justice Opt-In Certification Order.