§2265 Certification and Judicial Review

Summary

If a proper State official asks, the U.S. Attorney General must decide three things: whether the State has a system to pick and pay qualified lawyers and cover their reasonable case costs for people who cannot afford a lawyer and who were sentenced to death in State postconviction cases; the date that system began; and whether the State uses standards to judge a lawyer’s competency in those cases. The date the State’s system began is the date the certification takes effect. No other rules for certification apply except what this chapter says. The Attorney General must issue rules to run this certification process. Any court review of the Attorney General’s decision must follow chapter 158. Only the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit can hear those reviews, and the Supreme Court may review under section 2350. The Attorney General’s decision must be reviewed anew, without giving it special deference.