Opinion of The Court
The Court affirmed the decision of the Eleventh Circuit in a 5-4 ruling. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion for the majority, holding that district courts are permitted, but not obliged, to consider, sua sponte, the timeliness of a state prisoner's habeas corpus petition. Based on precedent involving other affirmative defenses to habeas petitions, and the perceived lack of difference between outright dismissal by the district court and dismissal after allowing the State to amend its answer to include the limitations defense, the Court did not consider the district court's dismissal of Day's petition to be an abuse of discretion. Justices John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia filed dissenting opinions.
Read more about this topic: Day V. Mc Donough
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