Scholars say the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has shown an eagerness to impact abortion, affirmative action, LGBTQ rights, and more.
justices
Lawrence Hurley, Reuters, Andrew Chung, Reuters 1-26-2022
A general view of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2021. REUTERS/Will Dunham
Maurice Possley 10-09-2011
By the time someone figured out what happened, the deadline to appeal the denial of his post-conviction appeal had passed. So far, the state of Alabama has successfully argued that despite the mail room debacle, Maples should have been aware -- through his local counsel -- that the clock was ticking and that he just blew it.
Courts have struggled for years over the question of who should bear the penalty for a lawyer's mistakes or incompetence and the Maples case represents an extreme example of the problem of imputing the mistakes of a lawyer to the client.