SCOTUS seemingly split over 1983 suit timelines for high-profile Texas death row defendant claiming innocence

Rodney Reed has been on death row in Texas for over two decades based on his conviction for raping and murdering a teenager back in 1996. Reed has always maintained his innocence, but it is a procedural issue that brought his case before the Supreme Court and seemed to divide the Justices. Amy Howe’s SCOTUSblog analysis of the argument, “Justices wrestle with statute of limitations in Rodney Reed’s effort to revive DNA lawsuit,” provides a great review that starts this way:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard the case of a Texas death-row inmate seeking DNA testing for evidence that he believes will clear him. A federal appeals court threw out Rodney Reed’s federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas law governing DNA testing, explaining that Reed had filed his suit too late. Although several justices on Tuesday appeared ready to reject the deadline imposed by the lower court, there was no clear consensus around an alternative rule – and Reed’s lawsuit would still be too late under one of the options that the justices debated.

The full argument transcript in Reed v. Goertz is available at this link.  And here are a few press accounts of the argument:

From Law360, “Comity Takes Center Stage In High Court DNA Testing Case“

From Reuters, “U.S. Supreme Court mulls Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed’s DNA testing bid“