2254 opinion

Since 2254 is such a specialized area, I will recite the Court's holding in Thompson v. Secretary, Department of Corrections, and let you, dear reader, figure out if it's pertinent to your practice: "we conclude that the district court incorrectly dismissed Thompson's federal habeas petition as untimely based on its erroneous determination that Thompson's September 2004 and December 2005 state habeas corpus petitions were not 'properly filed' within the meaning of §2244(d)(2). As the latter petitions met all the state procedural and filing requirements on their face, Thompson was entitled to statutory tolling of the one-year limitations period under §2244(d)(2) during the pendency of those petitions."