KLEEM, Et Al. v. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE

Background

A lawyer for a party who lost in the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit asked Justice Scalia, acting as the Circuit Justice, for a 60-day extension to file a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the appeals-court decision. Counsel said the case presents important constitutional questions decided against their client and requested extra time to research and prepare the petition. Federal law (28 U.S.C. § 2101(c)) requires such petitions in civil cases to be filed within ninety days, and that period may be extended by a Justice for up to sixty additional days "for good cause shown."

Reasoning

The acting Justice considered whether the lawyer’s stated reason—needing additional time to research constitutional issues—amounted to the "good cause" required to grant a disfavored extension. The Court’s Rule 20.6 says requests for extensions "are not favored." The Justice noted counsel offered no case-specific reason beyond a general desire for more time, and wrote that the same reason could be adduced in virtually all cases. Because that generalized need for research does not meet the "good cause shown" standard, the request for a sixty-day extension was denied under the Court’s rules.

Real world impact

The immediate effect is practical and narrow: the party and its lawyer must file within the original ninety-day deadline and will not receive the requested sixty-day extension in this instance. The order, entered pursuant to the Court’s rules, addresses only the timing of a petition and does not resolve the underlying constitutional claims in the case.