Jeanne Woodford, Warden v. Robert Frederick Garceau

Decided March 25, 2003. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 01-1862 · 538 U.S. 202 (2003) · Cited 823 times

Holding

For purposes of applying the Lindh rule, a case does not become “pending ” until an actual application for habeas relief is filed in federal court.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Lindh v. Murphy · 521 U.S. 320 (1997)
• McFarland v. Scott · 512 U.S. 849 (1994)
• Hohn v. United States · 524 U.S. 236 (1998)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 362 (2000)
• Woodford v. Visciotti · 537 U.S. 19 (2002)
• Early v. Packer · 537 U.S. 3 (2002)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 420 (2000)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• Coit Independence Joint Venture v. Federal Savings & Loan Insurance · 489 U.S. 561 (1989)
• Hilton v. South Carolina Public Railways Commission · 502 U.S. 197 (1991)
• Pitchess v. Davis · 421 U.S. 482 (1975)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Schriro v. Landrigan · 550 U.S. 465 (2007)
• Baze v. Rees · 553 U.S. 35 (2008)
• Ayers v. Belmontes · 549 U.S. 7 (2006)
• Nielsen v. Preap · 586 U.S. 392 (2019)
• Brown v. Payton · 544 U.S. 133 (2005)
• Ryan v. Valencia Gonzales · 568 U.S. 57 (2013)
• Shoop v. Twyford · 596 U.S. 811 (2022)
• Rhines v. Weber · 544 U.S. 269 (2005)
• Gonzalez v. Crosby · 545 U.S. 524 (2005)
• Day v. McDonough · 547 U.S. 198 (2006)
• Wood v. Milyard · 566 U.S. 463 (2012)
• Johnson v. United States · 544 U.S. 295 (2005)
• Rivers v. Guerrero · 605 U.S. 443 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2003). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).