§2265 Certification and Judicial Review

Summary

If an appropriate State official asks, the U.S. Attorney General must decide three things: whether the State has a system to pick and pay competent lawyers and cover reasonable court costs for poor people on death row who seek postconviction relief; the date that system began; and whether the State has standards for lawyer competence in those cases. The certification’s effective date is the date the system began. The Attorney General must make rules to run this certification. Challenges to the Attorney General’s decision can be reviewed only under chapter 158. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has exclusive authority for that review, subject to possible Supreme Court review under section 2350, and the courts will examine the decision anew.