Someone should start an AEDPA blog

After a year of blogging, I know I cannot keep up with all of the dyanmic sentencing stories that are always developing in state and federal systems.  I also know that, one way or another, most of these stories end up in federal habeas corpus litigation; the broad field of sentencing is, both directly and indirectly, profoundly impacted by the law and policy of federal habeas corpus review.  Consequently, true sentencing gurus probably also need to be true habeas gurus.

But, especially given all the complicated intricacies of the AEDPA (the now decade-old modern federal habeas statute), I know I will never be a true habeas guru.  Proof of that fact comes from recent federal circuit opinions, which address a range of AEDPA habeas issues, that I will never find the time to read closely.  The case that has me AEDPA-addled today is the Third Circuit’s 50+ pages of en banc discussion of AEDPA time-limits in US v. Bendolph, No. 01-2468 (3d Cir. May 16, 2005) (available here).  Also, I see posts from other bloggers discussing other notable sentencing cases with AEDPA issues: Tom Freeland at Appellate Law & Practice has this post about a 5th Circuit case involving sex offender registration; Mike at Crime & Federalism has this post about an 8th Circuit death penalty case; and Jonathan Soglin has more here on the Ninth Circuit’s case questioning AEDPA’s constitutionality.

In short, I think I and many other would benefit greatly from effective blogsphere coverage of AEDPA issues.  Perhaps such a blog already exists, in which case this post can become a long plug; if one doesn’t, this post can perhaps serve as encouragement for its development.