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Abstract

The Great Writ of habeas corpus, safeguarded by our Constitution as an essential guarantor of liberty, took its current shape over the course of American history as Congress established, expanded, and eventually limited the power of federal courts to issue the writ. Although the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 imposed harsh new limitations for federal prisoners seeking habeas relief more than once in the same case, Congress’s amendment of the relevant procedural statutes left intact the “savings clause,” allowing such prisoners to file additional requests for relief where the prisoners’ prior requests were “inadequate or ineffective to test the legality” of their imprisonment.

Recent splits in circuit court authority have threatened to write the savings clause out of the federal habeas statutes. Although the Fourth Circuit in United States v. Wheeler has recognized the continuing applicability of the savings clause in appropriate cases, the Sixth Circuit in Hueso v. Barnhart announced sharply more limited reasoning, holding the savings clause to be restricted by narrow procedural requirements established elsewhere in the 1996 habeas amendments. Similarly, the Eleventh Circuit in In re Baptiste has held that federal prisoners may never file additional requests for relief on the same underlying claim, regardless of circumstances or the savings clause, while the Ninth Circuit in Jones v. United States has rejected this position and allowed for continuing operation of the savings clause in circumstances where justice so requires.

Courts should interpret the savings clause to allow federal prisoners the broadest access to the writ. Such an interpretation is true to the text of the federal habeas statutes, accords with canons of statutory construction, is in line with the legislative history of the 1996 amendments, and respects the constitutional requirement that access to the writ must not be suspended absent extraordinary circumstances. Applying the savings clause in this manner will best honor the letter and spirit of the great writ of liberty.

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