Whether equitable tolling is available when a habeas petitioner relies on unsettled circuit law that is later upended by legal developments

QUESTION PRESENTED Equitable tolling is available to excuse an untimely claim for habeas relief if a petitioner shows extraordinary circumstances and reasonable diligence. Holland v. Florida, 560 U.S. 631 (2010). The Second, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals permit equitable tolling when a petitioner relies on potentially favorable but unsettled circuit law and that reliance is upended by subsequent legal developments. But they are divided over whether tolling is appropriate where out-of-circuit cases might have foreshadowed those developments. Compare Williams v. Filson, 908 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2018), with York v. Galetka, 314 F.3d 522 (10th Cir. 2003), and Rodriguez v. Bennett, 303 F.3d 435 (2nd Cir. 2002). The question presented is whether the Ninth Circuit contravened Holland and entrenched a split with the Second and Tenth Circuits in concluding that equitable tolling is unavailable if, at the time of a petitioner’s reliance on unsettled circuit law, out-of-circuit cases existed that might have augured a change in controlling precedent retroactively rendering his claim untimely. i