Gilbert Luberda v. David Trippett, Warden, Thumb Correctional Facility

OPINION

RYAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal raises the question whether a federal habeas petitioner’s disregard of a Michigan rule of appellate procedure, enacted after the petitioner’s state conviction but before the submission of his case to the Michigan Court of Appeals, may operate as an “adequate and independent state procedural bar” to preclude federal habeas review. We think it may and we will affirm.

The district court order dismissed petitioner Gilbert Luberda’s habeas corpus petition, which attacked the validity of his Michigan conviction for rape and kidnapping. In a single-judge order,…