Habeas Delayed is Justice Denied

A colleague, reacting to my recent post about the "Vanishing Reversal Rate in the Second Circuit," asked me yesterday whether we kept similar stats on the subject of habeas corpus petitions. We don't. But one thing that my partner Zach Segal and I started monitoring a few years ago was the Eastern District of New York's then-abysmal backlog of section 2254 petitions, i.e., habeas petitions brought by state inmates. In substance the EDNY was where § 2254 petitions went to die -- kinda a roach motel for petitions. One client of mine said he had no interest in filing a petition because he knew it wouldn't be decided for years -- and he was essentially correct.

And so we decided to see what kind of reaction we might get if we broached the subject with The Powers That Be. We initially got little response, but we then wrote to then-Chief Judge Katzmann of the Second Circuit, with the support of New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York Criminal Bar Association, and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers. Judge Katzmann circulated our letter to the chief judges of the district courts within the Second Circuit. We then took our concerns to Chief EDNY Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak and newly appointed Chief EDNY District Judge Margo Brodie. They were both extraordinarily responsive. We also received support from newly selected Second Circuit Chief Judge Livingston, and she arranged a Zoom with the chiefs of the various district judges within the Second Circuit. Second Circuit Judge Lohier also took an interest in the issue. In the end, Judge Brodie assured us she recognized the severity of the problem and would address it, and Judge Livingston maintained a continuing interest in the issue. I understand that Second Circuit Judge Denny Chin also became involved, offering to resolve numerous of the outstanding petitions to help reduce the backlog. Other judges were also involved in addressing the issue.

The result, over the last few years, has been a drastic reduction in the EDNY habeas backlog, as reflected in the following graph, which we maintain and update each month:

As you can see, the number of pending petitions has been reduced by more than half and continues to decrease. Of course these stats do not reflect outcomes but only addresses the backlog. But if it's true -- and I believe it is -- that justice delayed is justice denied, then at least litigants know that their petitions will not fall down some endless pit, never again to see the light of day.

Richard Levitt