Clements v. Ray

Issue: (1) Whether, to determine when a state application for post-conviction relief has been properly filed for purposes of tolling under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2), the federal mailbox rule applies unless the state court has clearly rejected the rule (as the court below held), or state law determines when the application was properly filed (as the majority of circuits have held); (2) whether, when tolling under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2) is at issue, the state bears the burden to show the prisoner did not properly file a state post-conviction motion (as the court below held), or the prisoner bears the burden to show he is entitled to tolling (as the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits have held); and (3) whether the Seventh Circuit exceeded the scope of its limited appellate authority by substituting its judgment for the district court’s when it refused to accept the lower court’s credibility determinations.