Brief filed: 04/26/2012
Documents
Rhodes v. Judiscak
United States Supreme Court; Case No. 11-1177
Argument(s)
Petitioner filed a habeas challenge to the BOP’s calculation of the actual length of his sentence, but when the district court failed to act on his petition until after the petitioner had already been placed on supervised release. The district court dismissed his case as moot, concluding it had no authority to shorten the length of his supervised release and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed. The courts of appeal are split whether a federal prisoner’s habeas petition challenging the length of his incarceration remains justiciable while he is on supervised release. Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is responsible for calculating inmate sentences; the Tenth Circuit’s rule would allow the BOP to insulate its sentence computations from review by dragging out litigation until an inmate is released.
Author(s)
Thomas S. Leatherbury and Kimberly R. McCoy, Vinson & Elkins LLP, Dallas, TX.