Page:Jones v. Hendrix.pdf/54

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JONES v. HENDRIX

Jackson, J., dissenting

inference that Congress silently repealed the traditional [postconviction] remedy for federal prisoners who have been imprisoned for conduct that Congress did not criminalize.” Brief for Respondent 28. I proceed here to add that nothing outside of AEDPA—not the background legal principles that existed at the time Congress enacted the statute, nor the practical consequences of reading §2255(h) in this manner—supports that inference either.

Take equity, for instance. When Congress crafted §2255(h), it legislated against an important background equitable principle pertaining to postconviction relief: Courts should not interpret statutory provisions governing habeas review to even “ ‘run the risk’ ” of causing prisoners to “ ‘forever los[e] their opportunity for any federal review of their … claims.’ ” Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U. S. 930, 945–946 (2007) (quoting Rhines v. Weber, 544 U. S. 269, 275 (2005)); see also Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, 523 U. S. 637, 645 (1998). This means that Congress was well aware that courts consistently “rel[y] on equitable doctrines to carve out … ways petitioners can bypass [otherwise applicable] procedural obstacles” when a prisoner has “not had a full and fair opportunity to litigate their federal claims.” E. Primus, Equitable Gateways: Toward Expanded Federal Habeas Corpus Review of State-Court Criminal Convictions, 61 Ariz. L. Rev. 291, 305 (2019).^[1] Knowing that courts are equitable tribunals that tend to operate in this fashion should have prompted Congress to express its in-

↑ Many of the Courts of Appeals that had read §2255(e) as saving legal innocence claims invoked this equitable principle. See, e.g., In re Davenport, 147 F. 3d, at 609; Triestman, 124 F. 3d, at 378; In re Dorsainvil, 119 F. 3d, at 251. As lower courts also recognized, the impetus to provide a meaningful opportunity for review of a postconviction claim was especially strong when failure to hear the claim might result in a “miscarriage of justice.” See Reyes-Requena, 243 F. 3d, at 904; In re Dorsainvil, 119 F. 3d, at 251.

[1] Many of the Courts of Appeals that had read §2255(e) as saving legal innocence claims invoked this equitable principle. See, e.g., In re Davenport, 147 F. 3d, at 609; Triestman, 124 F. 3d, at 378; In re Dorsainvil, 119 F. 3d, at 251. As lower courts also recognized, the impetus to provide a meaningful opportunity for review of a postconviction claim was especially strong when failure to hear the claim might result in a “miscarriage of justice.” See Reyes-Requena, 243 F. 3d, at 904; In re Dorsainvil, 119 F. 3d, at 251.

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