Kenneth Hartley v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al.

Whether the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ pro forma, nonindividualized, blanket denial of a certificate of appealability (COA) complies with the standards for reviewing a COA as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c) and later enunciated in Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473 (2000), and Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322 (2003)?

Whether the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida’s disproportionately high denial rate of applications for a COA in federal habeas cases is a continuing systemic failure of that court to correctly apply this Court’s guidance in Slack and Miller?

Whether the petitioner has demonstrated that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court’s resolution of his constitutional claims or that such jurists could conclude the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further, thereby entitling petitioner to the issuance of a COA?