The Supreme Court, breaking into unusual alliances, ruled Tuesday that federal judges, on their own initiative, can correct a state's error in math and dismiss an inmate's appeal that misses a filing deadline.
By a 5-4 vote, justices dealt a defeat to Florida inmate Patrick Day, who missed the deadline for seeking federal court review of his state second-degree murder conviction by three weeks. The decision marked the first time the Court's newest member, Justice Samuel Alito, joined in a ruling since he came on the bench in late January.
Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts -- President Bush's nominees to the court -- were part of a majority that included liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a frequent swing voter.
In an opinion written by Ginsburg, the majority said federal judges are not required to check the math a state uses to determine whether a prisoner has filed an appeal on time. But a judge who notices an error shouldn't be required "to suppress that knowledge," she wrote.