Breon Powell v. John Rivello, Superintendent, State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon, et al.

Did Circuit Court of Appeals err and thereby abuse its discretion and commit error in denying due process to Appellant Powell when it denied a Certificate of Appealability from the District Court’s denial of Petitioner’s claims in his Habeas Corpus filing pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254 when it found that Petitioner did not use “due diligence” in his pursuit of his habeas claim and thus his filing was untimely pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254 when the United States District Court in which Appellant could have filed his habeas petition was shut down to filings due to its own Orders of closure related to the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic?

Did the Third Circuit Court’s denial of appealability by upholding the District Court’s denial of Appellant’s habeas petition where the District Court found that equitable tolling did not apply, even where the same District Court, by its own Orders, had shut down its court to filings due to the worldwide pandemic, did that create a “de-facto” alteration of the statute and denial of due process?