THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996               TAG: 9606290254
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   48 lines

COURT SHARPLY LIMITS APPEALS BY DEATH ROW INMATES BUT A 200-YEAR-OLD, RARELY SUCCESSFUL LAW ALLOWS A DIRECT APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.

In a decision expected to speed executions of convicted murderers, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld part of a new law that sharply limits federal appeals by death row inmates and other state prisoners.

But Congress, in passing the law in April, failed to achieve its goal of closing the doors of all federal courtrooms to repeat appeals from prisoners facing executions.

A 200-year-old, rarely successful route - a direct appeal to the Supreme Court - remains open for writs of habeas corpus, the basic method for allowing prisoners to bring claims of injustice before federal judges.

The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ``makes no mention of our authority to hear habeas petitions filed as original matters in this court,'' Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist observed.

And since Congress did not repeal that authority, Rehnquist said, ``there can be no plausible argument'' that the act stripped the court of its powers in violation of the Constitution.

The decision still came as bad news to many of the 3,000-plus convicted prisoners on Death Row in 38 states.

It effectively ended a suspension of scheduled executions that began in early May when the justices agreed to weigh the constitutionality of the new appeal provisions - a move that provoked cries of ``unseemly haste'' from four dissenters.

But the bitter court division evaporated when it became clear that the justices could skirt the fundamental, thorny question of how far Congress may go in pruning the powers of the Supreme Court.

The new law, approved after nearly 20 years of congressional debate on federal appeals reform, toughened standards for federal court review, set strict time limits and curbed repeat petitions to federal courts.

One provision bars a convicted state defendant from beginning a second round of federal appeals without authorization from a three-judge appellate panel - and makes it difficult for the panel to allow a prisoner's petition to be heard.

Moreover, the law does not permit inmates to appeal to the Supreme Court after the panel spurns their petitions. The justices upheld that provision Friday, saying it did not amount to a suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

The writ may be suspended only during rebellions or invasions when ``the public safety may require it,'' the Constitution says. by CNB