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Congressional_______
Ra~esearch Service
Supreme Court Narrows Access to Habeas
Corpus Relief for Federal Inmates
July 19, 2023
In Jones v. Hendrix, decided on June 22, 2023, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split over a provision
of 28 U.S.C. @ 2255, the statutory habeas corpus alternative permitting federal prisoners to raise post-
conviction challenges to their convictions or sentences. Successive motions are not permitted under the
statute unless based on newly discovered evidence or a new rule of constitutional law. However, a saving
clause, @ 2255(e), allows a federal prisoner to bring a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 if the
@ 2255 remedy is inadequate or ineffective to contest the legality of [their] detention.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the minority of circuits in ruling that the @ 2255 remedy
is not rendered inadequate or ineffective when a petitioner brings a claim based on a change in statutory
interpretation. The Court reasoned that the @ 2255(e) saving clause applies only to procedural
inadequacies with either (1) challenging one's conviction or sentence or (2) challenging one's detention
on grounds that do not implicate one's sentence. The Court paired this interpretation of the saving clause
with a narrow reading of the Constitution's Suspension Clause, which states that [t]he Privilege of the
Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public
Safety may require it. The Court implied that constitutional safeguards for habeas corpus protect the
right only as it existed at the time of the nation's founding.
A prior Legal Sidebar that previewed Jones provides a historical background of habeas corpus and the
@ 2255(e) saving clause. This Sidebar summarizes the factual and procedural history of Jones. Next, it
discusses the Jones opinion and considers how it may signal a shift in the Court's interpretation of the
Suspension Clause. Finally, the Sidebar discusses ramifications of the decision for Congress. For
purposes of clarity, the Sidebar refers to a motion filed under @ 2255 as a @ 2255 motion, and a petition
filed under @ 2241 as a @ 2241 habeas corpus petition.
Factual and Procedural History of Jones
In 2000, Jones was convicted on two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon under 18
U.S.C. @ 922(g)(1), and one count of making false statements to acquire a firearm under 18 U.S.C.
@ 922(a)(6). On direct appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed Jones's
convictions and 327-month sentence. At the time, Eighth Circuit precedent provided that to convict under
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
LSB11007
CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govemgd0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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