Supreme Court Asked to Take Certified Question for Only Fifth Time in Six-Plus Decades

A federal appellate court recently focused attention on a rare method of obtaining review by the U.S. Supreme Court when it certified a question to the justices in the high-profile prosecution of James Ford Seale for the 1964 kidnapping-murder of two black teenagers. The question that troubled the 5th Circuit: Though Seale committed the crime in 1964, he was not prosecuted until 2007. Did the law require the prosecution for kidnapping within five years of the crime, or is there no time limit?