What is the AEDPA?
The AEDPA is the acronym for the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act from 1996. This law drastically revised the ยง 2254 statute, making it even harder for state prisoners to obtain federal habeas relief. Although the AEDPA changes were codified in various statutes, often times, courts will simply say “under the AEDPA.” They really mean under the habeas statute as amended by the AEDPA. We are now over a decade beyond the passage of the law, and many of the kinks in the statute have been worked out, but some still remain.
