Argument of Chief Justice Rehnquist
Mr. Rehnquist: I have the judgment of the Court to announce in Pace versus DiGuglielmo.
The Antiterrorism and the Effective Death Penalty Act establishes a one-year statute of limitations for filing a Federal habeas corpus petition.
But it tolled the limitation period while a properly filed application for state conviction relief is pending.
Petitioner John Pace filed his federal habeas petition outside the one-year limit but argued that he was entitled to a statutory and equitable tolling.
We now affirm the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s rejection of petitioner’s contentions.
Petitioner’s untimely state of postconviction petition was not properly filed and therefore did not toll the limitation period, and petitioner was not entitled to equitable tolling.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
Justice Stevens has filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer have joined.
