Keeping Irons in the fire

Howard Bashman at How Appealing has the news and links here detailing that the Ninth Circuit panel considering the constitutionality of the AEDPA habeas standard in Irons v. Carey has now “issued an order … requesting supplemental briefing and notifying the Attorney General of the United States that the statute’s constitutionality has been called into question.”  Howard also reports that this order, available here, “contemplates the possibility of panel reargument and also invites interested amici to request leave to file briefs.”   (I have previously discussed Irons, and its possible impact on capital cases and Blakely habeas litigation, in this post.)

UPDATE:  Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog now has this informative post on this latest hot Irons development.