Supreme Court Sticks To It's Guns

The Supreme court is sticking to it's guns when
it comes to deadline on court filings. The court
has thrown out two cases in the last month due
to lawyers not filing on time. The article below
tells of the latest case the court has ruled on.


Deadlines set in law for filing motions cannot be waived, a divided Supreme Court said Thursday, even if a judge's error causes someone to submit a motion two days late.The 5-4 decision not only threw out an appeal filed by an Ohio convict, it sent a warning to lawyers and judges nationwide. The conservative majority said it would view these filing deadlines in civil suits as legal mandates that cannot be set aside by judges, regardless of whether the litigant or lawyer had a good reason for missing the deadline.

"If rigorous rules like the one applied today are thought to be inequitable, Congress may authorize the courts" to adopt more lenient rules, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority.In dissent, Justice David H. Souter wrote:

"It is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way." He faulted the majority for "condoning this bait and switch." It is the second time in a month that the court split along conservative-liberal lines over an issue of deadlines. In a 5-4 ruling that was seen as a setback for women's rights, the court overturned a pay-discrimination verdict in favor of the lone female supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant because she had not pointed to unfair pay decisions within the time limit of 180 days prior to the filing of her suit. In the case decided Thursday, Kevin Bowles was convicted of murder in 1999 for taking part in the beating of another man, and his appeals were rejected by the Ohio courts.

His initial appeal was rejected by a federal district judge. His lawyer sought to reopen his appeal, and under a federal rule of civil procedure he had 14 days to file a notice. The judge granted his motion to reopen the appeal on Feb. 10, 2004, but inexplicably said his notice must be filed by Feb. 27.Bowles' notice was filed on Feb. 26, the day before the judge's deadline. But this was 16 days after he had granted the motion, or two days beyond the legal deadline





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