Fifth Circuit Backs Off Time Bar, Rejects DNA-Testing Challenge Anyway

When Rodney Reed first tried to challenge the constitutionality of Texas's postconviction DNA-testing procedures, the Fifth Circuit held his claim time-barred. Supreme Court (2023): Wrong. Fifth Circuit (2025): Point taken. Not time-barred. But because Texas's postconviction-DNA statute isn't unconstitutional, Mr. Reed is out of luck.