Saving Habeas: Section 2255's Safety Valve
Federal inmates looking to challenge their convictions and/or sentences after the conclusion of the trial and direct appeals process usually must file a motion to vacate under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. That statute’s saving clause, 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e), creates a safety valve that allows movants to challenge their convictions and/or sentences under a different statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, which codified the traditional habeas corpus remedy that existed at the time of the nation’s founding. That safety valve is available in limited circumstance—when the remedy under Section 2255 is inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of their detention. Federal appellate courts disagree as to how limited those circumstances are, and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review one of those disagreements in Jones v. Hendrix.
This Sidebar offers an overview of Section 2255(e)’s saving clause and explains how it operates within the greater framework of federal habeas corpus law. The Sidebar then details the history of the saving clause in Section 2255(e) and how courts have interpreted its scope. It concludes by previewing the Court’s upcoming decision in Jones and some considerations for Congress.
In the interest of preventing confusion while discussing two different provisions of habeas corpus law, this Sidebar adopts the following terminology. A motion to vacate one’s conviction and/or sentence under Section 2255 will be referred to as a “motion to vacate” or “Section 2255.” A petition under Section 2241 will be referred to as a “habeas corpus petition.”
Historical Federal Habeas Corpus
Habeas corpus, Latin for “bring forth the body,” is a process by which courts review the legality of criminal convictions or sentences. Under federal law, this remedy is only available after a defendant has been convicted of and sentenced for a criminal offense and has exhausted all avenues for directly appealing that conviction and/or sentence, or the time for exhausting those avenues has expired. The doctrine of habeas corpus has roots in common law and English statutory law. In the United States, the Constitution forbids suspending the writ of habeas corpus. The doctrine, as it pertains to federal prisoners, has also appeared in federal statutes in various forms since the nation’s founding. Section 14 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 provided federal courts with a limited power to grant writs of habeas corpus to federal prisoners “for the purpose of an inquiry into the cause of commitment.”
At multiple points in the second half of the 18th century, Congress amended the habeas corpus statute. Amendments in 1867 authorized courts to grant the writ to any prisoner held in violation of the
