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John Forrest Ham, Jr. v. M. Breckon, Warden

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, No. 20-6972 · judgment April 20, 2021

Certiorari denied · June 30, 2023
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

A person in federal custody ordinarily may collaterally challenge the legality of his detention only once, by filing a motion to vacate or set aside his conviction or sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Under section 2255(e)’s saving clause, however, such a person may file an application for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 when it “appears” that a section 2255 motion is “inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention.” The question presented is: Whether a district court has jurisdiction under section 2241 to review a claim that a federal prisoner’s sentence is invalid in light of an intervening and retroactively applicable statutory-interpretation decision of this Court, where circuit precedent foreclosed the claim at the time of the prisoner’s prior section 2255 motion. (i)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Pratik Arvind Shah
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 4 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jun 30 2023
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 29 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/29/2023.
  3. May 09 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/12/2022.
  4. Apr 13 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/29/2022.
  5. Mar 28 2022
    Rescheduled.
  6. Mar 16 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/1/2022.
  7. Mar 16 2022
    Reply of petitioner John Forrest Ham, Jr. filed. (Distributed)
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  8. Feb 24 2022
    Brief of respondent M. Breckon, Warden in opposition filed.
    Certificate of Word CountMain Document
  9. Jan 18 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including February 24, 2022.
  10. Jan 14 2022
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 24, 2022 to February 24, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  11. Dec 23 2021
    Brief amicus curiae of Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  12. Dec 17 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 24, 2022.
  13. Dec 15 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 23, 2021 to January 24, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  14. Nov 18 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 23, 2021)
    PetitionAppendixCertificate of Word CountProof of Service