Quick Hits

Some quick hits as I try to get back in the game:

In Belot v. Burge, No. 05-6875, the 2nd Circuit affirmed the denial of habeas relief because the petition was time-barred. The judge below concluded that a prison lock-down was not a sufficiently extraordinary circumstance to justify equitable tolling because, besides being a foreseeable occurrence, petitioner should not have waited so long to begin his petition and perhaps should have submitted a "timely--but unpolished--petition."

In Singh v. Gonzalez, No. 05-55933, the 9th Circuit held in part that "a habeas petition is "pending" in the district court within the meaning of the REAL ID Act's (RIDA) transfer provision when the notice of appeal was not filed at the time RIDA was enacted, but was filed within the sixty day limitations period for filing a timely appeal of a habeas petition under Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(B). " (squib from findlaw)