Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit November 17, 2000, No. 99-56530 (Richards-Diaz v. Fasano)

TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:

I.

Mario Richards-Diaz (“Richards”) appeals the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He argues that § 440(d) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (“AEDPA”) violates the Equal Protection component of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution; that the application of AED-PA and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant