I. Whether, after the enactment of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act ("AEDPA") in 1996, promulgated law and court rules require a § 2255-Certificate of Appealability ("COA")-applicant to file a notice of appeal (NOA) in order for the circuit court to obtain jurisdiction to consider her application for a COA.

II. Whether the circuit court may lawfully refuse to exercise its jurisdictional duty to consider an application for a COA, which is a threshold, gatekeeping, function and not an appeal, by invoking law and rules that by their plain language apply only to the time for filing a NOA in an appeal permitted by law as of right.

Whether a § 2255-Certificate of Appealability applicant must file a notice of appeal for the circuit court to obtain jurisdiction to consider the application