Magwood v. Patterson

Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 287 (2010), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that, when a state prisoner obtains federal habeas corpus relief and is re-sentenced, a habeas application challenging the new judgment is not a "second or successive" challenge even if the prisoner could have challenged the original sentence on the same ground.

Magwood v. Patterson
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 24, 2010
Full case name	Magwood v. Patterson
Citations	561 U.S. 287 (more)
Holding
When a state prisoner obtains federal habeas corpus relief and is re-sentenced, a habeas application challenging the new judgment is not a "second or successive" challenge even if the prisoner could have challenged the original sentence on the same ground.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Case opinions
Majority	Thomas
Dissent	Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Ginsberg, Alito
Laws applied
28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)

Significance

In this context, the Court said the habeas petition challenged the judgment, not the state's overall custody of the petitioner. If the Court had interpreted this situation as a "second or successive challenge," the petitioner's case would have been ignored under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)—even if it was meritorious.

External links

• Text of Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 287 (2010) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia