Avery v. United States

The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Statement of JUSTICE KAVANAUGH respecting the denial of certiorari. Federal prisoners can seek postconviction relief by filing an application under 28 U. S. C. §2255. State prisoners can seek federal postconviction relief by filing an application under §2254. The issue in this case concerns second-or-successive applications. As relevant here, the law provides that a “claim presented in a second or successive habeas corpus application under section 2254 that was presented in a prior application shall be dismissed.” §2244(b)(1) (emphasis added). The text of that second-or-successive statute covers only applications filed by state prisoners under §2254. Yet six Courts of Appeals have interpreted the statute to cover applications filed by state prisoners under §2254 and by federal prisoners under §2255, even though the text of the law refers only to §2254. See Gallagher v. United States, 711 F. 3d 315 (CA2 2013); United States v. Winkelman, 746 F. 3d 134, 135–136 (CA3 2014); In re Bourgeois, 902 F. 3d 446, 447 (CA5 2018); Taylor v. Gilkey, 314 F. 3d 832, 836 (CA7 2002); Winarske v. United States, 913 F. 3d 765, 768– 769 (CA8 2019); In re Baptiste, 828 F. 3d 1337, 1340 (CA11 2016).Avery v. United States