United States v. Raymond Surratt, Jr.

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-6851

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

RAYMOND ROGER SURRATT, JR.,

Defendant – Appellant.

--------------------------

STEVEN HARRIS GOLDBLATT,

Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel,

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS; DOUGLAS A.
BERMAN, Professor,

Amici Supporting Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Robert J. Conrad,
Jr., District Judge. (3:04−cr−00250−RJC−19; 3:12−cv−00513−RJC)

Argued: January 27, 2015 Decided: July 31, 2015

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and GREGORY and AGEE, Circuit
Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Agee wrote the majority
opinion, in which Chief Judge Traxler joined. Judge Gregory
wrote a dissenting opinion.
ARGUED: Ann Loraine Hester, FEDERAL DEFENDERS OF WESTERN NORTH
CAROLINA, INC., Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellant. Amy
Elizabeth Ray, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Asheville,
North Carolina, for Appellee. Erika L. Maley, SIDLEY AUSTIN
LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae. Steven Harris
Goldblatt, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C.,
as Court-Assigned Amicus Counsel. ON BRIEF: Ross Hall
Richardson, Executive Director, Joshua B. Carpenter, FEDERAL
DEFENDERS OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA, INC., Asheville, North
Carolina, for Appellant. Anne M. Tompkins, United States
Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Asheville, North
Carolina, for Appellee. Douglas A. Berman, Professor of Law,
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, Columbus, Ohio; Jeffrey T. Green,
Kimberly A. Leaman, SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP, Washington, D.C., for
Amici Curiae. Ruthanne M. Deutsch, Supervising Attorney, Utsav
Gupta, Student Counsel, William Hornbeck, Student Counsel,
Meredith Wood, Student Counsel, Appellate Litigation Program,
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Court-
Assigned Amicus Counsel.

2
AGEE, Circuit Judge:

In 2005, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute

cocaine, Raymond Surratt was sentenced to life imprisonment. We

affirmed his conviction and sentence on appeal, and Surratt’s

motion to vacate his conviction and sentence under 28 U.S.C.

§ 2255 was likewise denied. Neither Surratt’s direct appeal nor

his § 2255 motion questioned the legality of his mandatory life

sentence.

Several years later, Surratt returned to this Court and

asked for permission to file a second or successive § 2255

motion. Surratt’s request was premised on United States v.

Simmons, 649 F.3d 237 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc), which in turn

overruled our prior decision in United States v. Harp, 406 F.3d

242 (4th Cir. 2005). Had Surratt been sentenced after Simmons,

he would have faced a lower mandatory minimum sentence than the

mandatory life term that he actually received. Surratt

maintained that this difference entitled him to be resentenced.

But Congress set out certain conditions that must be met before

a successive motion may be permitted, and Surratt did not meet

those required conditions. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h). We

therefore denied him permission to file a successive motion.

See In re Surratt, No. 12-283 (4th Cir. Sept. 13, 2012), ECF No.

6.

3
 In the district court, Surratt had simultaneously filed a

petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241

seeking the same Simmons-based relief. As a federal prisoner,

however, Surratt cannot challenge his conviction and sentence

under § 2241 unless 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e) -- also called the

“savings clause” -- applies. The district court concluded that

§ 2255(e) did not in fact confer jurisdiction to consider

Surratt’s claim in a § 2241 petition, so it denied Surratt’s

petition.

Surratt now appeals from the judgment of the district

court. We are not unsympathetic to his claim; like the dissent,

we recognize the gravity of a life sentence. However, Congress

has the power to define the scope of the writ of habeas corpus,

and Congress has exercised that power here to narrowly limit the

circumstances in which a § 2241 petition may be brought.

Surratt’s petition does not present one of the permitted

circumstances. Accordingly, we agree that the district court

lacked jurisdiction under § 2255(e) to consider Surratt’s § 2241

petition and affirm the judgment below.

I.

In 2004, a grand jury indicted Surratt on several drug-

related counts, including conspiracy to possess with intent to

distribute cocaine and cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C.

4
§§ 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The Government then filed a timely

information indicating that it would seek enhanced penalties

based on Surratt’s criminal history. The Government’s

information identified four previous drug-related convictions,

each in North Carolina: (1) a 1996 conviction for felony

possession of cocaine; (2) a 1997 conviction for felony

possession of cocaine; (3) a 1997 conviction for felony

possession of cocaine and maintaining a place for storage or

sale; and (4) a 1998 conviction for sale and delivery of

cocaine. If two or more of these convictions constituted

“felony drug offense[s],” then Surratt faced a mandatory term of

life imprisonment without release. See 21 U.S.C.

§ 841(b)(1)(A).

Four months after his indictment, and despite the prospect

of a life sentence, Surratt pleaded guilty to the conspiracy

count. He acknowledged in his written plea agreement that the

district court could not impose a sentence below any statutory

minimum unless the United States sought a reduction for

substantial assistance. He also waived any rights to further

appeals, save in a few narrow circumstances. Surratt did not

stipulate, however, to any prior felony drug convictions.

After Surratt’s plea, but before his sentencing, we decided

United States v. Harp, 406 F.3d 242 (4th Cir. 2005), which held

that a North Carolina drug conviction qualified as a “felony

5
drug offense” if “the maximum aggravated sentence that [the

state court] could [have] imposed for that crime upon a

defendant with the worst possible criminal history” exceeded one

year. Id. at 246. Under Harp, all Surratt’s prior convictions

constituted felony drug offenses. Therefore, unless Surratt

offered substantial assistance to the Government, Surratt faced

a mandatory life sentence.

The district court sentenced Surratt to life imprisonment

in October 2005. Initially, the court expressed some misgivings

about a life sentence and questioned whether a different

sentence would apply had it been free to consider the factors

listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). But the Government had declined

to move for any substantial-assistance reduction, as it regarded

Surratt’s cooperation as “halfhearted . . . at best.” J.A. 223.

Consequently, the district court determined that it was

“required” to impose the life sentence “because of [Surratt’s]

prior criminal history and his engagement in this drug

trafficking and, for whatever reasons, his inability to render

substantial assistance.” J.A. 222. We affirmed Surratt’s

sentence on appeal. United States v. Surratt, 215 F. App’x 222,

224 (4th Cir. 2007). Surratt did not raise any claim in his

direct appeal as to his mandatory life sentence.

Surratt then moved for post-conviction relief under 28

U.S.C. § 2255 in April 2008. In that motion, Surratt claimed

6
that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel during

his initial plea and sentence, and further sought a sentence

reduction based on an amended Sentencing Guideline. He did not

challenge his mandatory minimum sentence. The district court

denied and dismissed the motion. Surratt v. United States, Nos.

3:08cv181, 3:04cr250, 2011 WL 815714 (W.D.N.C. Feb. 25, 2011).

We denied Surratt’s request for a certificate of appealability.

United States v. Surratt, 445 F. App’x 640, 640 (4th Cir. 2011).

More than three years after Surratt filed his first § 2255

motion, we decided Simmons. Overruling Harp, the Simmons en

banc majority held that a prior North Carolina conviction will

constitute a felony for purposes of an enhanced punishment only

if the prior conviction was actually punishable for more than

one year of imprisonment as to that defendant. 649 F.3d at 241.

Surratt and the Government agree that only one of Surratt’s

prior convictions would qualify as a “felony drug offense” under

Simmons.

Seeking to take advantage of Simmons, Surratt sought relief

in both this Court and the district court in August 2012. He

first asked this Court to permit him to file a second or

successive § 2225 motion. Because Surratt’s motion fell outside

the statutorily enumerated exceptions permitting that type of

motion, see 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h), we denied him permission to

file. See In re Surratt, No. 12-283 (4th Cir. Sept. 13, 2012),

7
ECF No. 6. On the same day that he filed that request, Surratt

also moved in the district court to vacate his sentence under

§§ 2241 and 2255, or for writ of coram nobis. Surratt

maintained that, in light of Simmons, he was “innocent” of the

career offender enhancement and was a victim of fundamental

error. In particular, Surratt argued that he should not have

been subject to a mandatory life sentence. The Government did

not oppose Surratt’s § 2241 request.

Despite the parties’ agreement, the district court denied

Surratt’s motion. Surratt v. United States, Nos. 3:04–CR–250–

19, 3:12–CV–513, 2014 WL 2013328 (W.D.N.C. May 16, 2014).

Although it again expressed misgivings about Surratt’s mandatory

life sentence, the court determined that a federal prisoner may

use § 2241 to seek relief that § 2225(h) would otherwise bar

only when a substantive change in the law coming after an

initial § 2255 petition rendered the prisoner’s original offense

conduct “non-criminal.” Id. at *1. Because Surratt challenged

only his sentence, the court concluded that he could not

establish that Simmons rendered any of his conduct “non-

criminal.” Therefore, he could not obtain relief under § 2241.

Surratt appealed, arguing that the district court should

have permitted him to proceed under § 2241. The Government

agreed and also elected not to enforce the appeal waiver in

Surratt’s plea agreement. Therefore, in light of the

8
Government’s position, we appointed amicus curiae to defend the

district court’s judgment.

II.

In the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of

1996 (“AEDPA”), Congress circumscribed the ability of federal

prisoners to request post-conviction relief. See Rhines v.

Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 274 (2005). Section 2555 provides the

ordinary means for a federal prisoner to challenge his

conviction or sentence. But in AEDPA, Congress limited the

jurisdiction of federal courts to hear second or successive

requests under § 2255. See, e.g., In re Weathersby, 717 F.3d

1108, 1110 (10th Cir. 2013) (“Congress placed strict limitations

on second or successive motions under § 2255[.]”). ∗

Specifically, courts may hear second or successive

petitions only if they pertain to (1) “newly discovered evidence

. . . [clearly and convincingly establishing] that no reasonable

factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the offense” or

(2) “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases

on collateral review by the Supreme Court, that was previously

unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h). We have already held that

∗ Throughout our opinion, we have omitted any internal
marks, citations, emphasis, or footnotes from quotations unless
otherwise noted.

9
Surratt’s claim does not fall into either of these categories,

so § 2255(h) does not permit him to file a second or successive

motion under § 2255.

If a federal prisoner cannot meet § 2255(h)’s requirements,

then he may seek to file a traditional petition for writ of

habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. But that right carries

significant limits as well. Specifically, a prisoner “may file

a habeas petition under § 2241 only if the collateral relief

typically available under § 2255 ‘is inadequate or ineffective

to test the legality of his detention.’” Prousalis v. Moore,

751 F.3d 272, 275 (4th Cir. 2014) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e)).

If a federal prisoner brings a § 2241 petition that does not

fall within the scope of this “savings clause,” then the

district court must dismiss the “unauthorized habeas motion . .

. for lack of jurisdiction,” Rice v. Rivera, 617 F.3d 802, 807

(4th Cir. 2010), even if the Government supports the prisoner’s

position.

Surratt is a federal prisoner who means to file a § 2241

petition for post-conviction relief. Therefore, we must assess

whether § 2255 is “inadequate or ineffective to test the

legality of his detention.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). We consider

that question de novo. See Yi v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 412

F.3d 526, 530 (4th Cir. 2005). We have jurisdiction over this

appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

10
 III.

A.

We have determined that § 2255 was inadequate or

ineffective in only one prior instance. In that case,

petitioner Byron Jones argued that Bailey v. United States, 516

U.S. 137 (1995), rendered his convictions for “use” of a firearm

during a drug offense invalid. In re Jones, 226 F.3d 328, 329

(4th Cir. 2000). Bailey had overruled this circuit’s

understanding of what it meant to “use” a firearm, id. at 330

(citing Bailey, 516 U.S. at 143), and Jones contended that his

conduct therefore did not amount to “use” under Bailey’s reading

of the term, id. at 334. Jones, however, had already filed a

§ 2255 motion before Bailey, and § 2255(h) barred him from

filing another one. Id. at 330. We decided to award relief,

deeming § 2255 “inadequate or ineffective to test the legality

of a conviction” when:

(1) at the time of conviction, settled law of this
circuit or the Supreme Court established the legality
of the conviction; (2) subsequent to the prisoner’s
direct appeal and first § 2255 motion, the substantive
law changed such that the conduct of which the
prisoner was convicted is deemed not to be criminal;
and (3) the prisoner cannot satisfy the gatekeeping
provisions of § 2255 because the new rule is not one
of constitutional law.

Jones, 226 F.3d at 333-34.

In short, Jones opened a narrow gateway to § 2241 relief

for certain prisoners found actually innocent of their offenses

11
of conviction, allowing relief only where the acts for which the

defendant was convicted are not a crime. Since then, we have

focused on this aspect of Jones -- actual innocence of a

criminal act -- when characterizing the decision. See, e.g.,

Farrow v. Revell, 541 F. App’x 327, 328-29 (4th Cir. 2013);

Darden v. Stephens, 426 F. App’x 173, 174 (4th Cir. 2011); Rice,

617 F.3d at 807; United States v. Poole, 531 F.3d 263, 267 n.7

(4th Cir. 2008). Other circuits also give substantial attention

to the actual innocence aspect of Jones when discussing it.

See, e.g., Bryant v. Warden, FCC Coleman-Medium, 738 F.3d 1253,

1280 (11th Cir. 2013); Abernathy v. Wandes, 713 F.3d 538, 546

n.7 (10th Cir. 2013); Stephens v. Herrera, 464 F.3d 895, 898

(9th Cir. 2006); Abdullah v. Hedrick, 392 F.3d 957, 962 (8th

Cir. 2004); Cephas v. Nash, 328 F.3d 98, 104 n.6 (2d Cir. 2003);

Reyes-Requena v. United States, 243 F.3d 893, 904 (5th Cir.

2001).

The dissent mistakenly tries to read the actual innocence

requirement out of Jones. That course ignores the clear

limitation in Jones that, before the case can be used to invoke

§ 2255(e), the law must have changed “such that the conduct of

which the prisoner was convicted is deemed not to be criminal.”

226 F.3d at 334. The caveat wasn’t accidental, but drew from

the fundamental recognition that actual innocence of a crime is

different from other circumstances. Indeed, Jones “agree[d]

12
with the rationale” of other courts that made this principle

even more explicit. Id. at 333; see, e.g., Triestman v. United

States, 124 F.3d 361, 378-79 (2d Cir. 1997) (permitting a Bailey

claim to be brought via § 2241 in part because of the

constitutional issues that would arise from refusing to hear an

actual-innocence claim); see also Jones, 226 F.3d at 333 n.3

(“[T]hese courts have focused on the more fundamental defect

presented by a situation in which an individual is incarcerated

for conduct that is not criminal[.]”). Were the dissent’s

approach right, Jones would permit any federal prisoner to bring

any non-constitutional claim via § 2241 in any instance where

the law relevant to that claim changed in the petitioner’s favor

at any time. That hardly describes “a limited number of

circumstances” in which § 2255(e) would apply. Jones, 226 F.3d

at 333.

B.

Jones simply does not apply here, as Surratt is not

innocent of anything. All parties agree that Simmons did not

decriminalize any part of Surratt’s underlying conduct. Surratt

admits that he conspired to distribute drugs, the offense for

which he was convicted.

He nevertheless argues that his predicate convictions

constitute elements of a separate, aggravated offense for

recidivists. If that proved true, we might say that Surratt was

13
not guilty of the prior conviction “element,” and therefore

innocent of the recidivist offense. Yet we do not treat a prior

conviction “as an element of [the] offense.” Almendarez-Torres

v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 247 (1998); see also Alleyne v.

United States, 133 S. Ct. 2151, 2160 & n.1 (2013). Indeed, “the

[Supreme] Court has consistently held that recidivism is not an

element of the triggering crime[.]” Appleby v. Warden, N. Reg’l

Jail & Corr. Facility, 595 F.3d 532, 539 (4th Cir. 2010). Many

good reasons justify this principle: recidivism does not

directly relate to the underlying charged conduct, courts may

judicially notice convictions, prior convictions could prejudice

the defendant if the Government put them before the jury, and

courts have treated recidivism as a sentencing factor for over

200 years. See United States v. Cheek, 415 F.3d 349, 353-54

(4th Cir. 2005); see also Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227,

248-49 (1999).

Surratt insists that his sentence enhancements are

different. They are not. We have treated the predicate

convictions described in § 841 as sentencing enhancements, not

elements of a separate crime. See, e.g., United States v.

Smith, 451 F.3d 209, 224 (4th Cir. 2006); accord Jeanty v.

Warden, FCI-Miami, 757 F.3d 1283, 1286 (11th Cir. 2014); United

States v. Ramirez, 714 F.3d 1134, 1141 (9th Cir. 2013). The

Government did not charge the predicate convictions here in the

14
indictment. And, had the case gone to trial, it would not have

put them before a jury and proven them beyond a reasonable

doubt.

We also do not believe that Alleyne altered the

longstanding rule treating predicate convictions as

enhancements, not elements. Alleyne held only that a jury must

find certain facts that increase a mandatory minimum sentence.

133 S. Ct. at 2155. How Alleyne would apply here remains

something of a mystery, as the parties do not identify any

authority indicating that the case could apply retroactively on

collateral review. Quite the contrary: courts have held that

Alleyne does not apply retroactively. See United States v.

Olvera, 775 F.3d 726, 730 (5th Cir. 2015) (“We reiterate that

Alleyne does not apply retroactively. This decision accords

with that of every circuit to have examined the issue, none of

which has decided that Alleyne is retroactive.”).

Regardless, Alleyne held that facts other than a prior

conviction that increase a mandatory minimum amount to

“elements” of the crime. 133 S. Ct. at 2160-63. The Supreme

Court has specifically refused to apply this reasoning to prior

convictions. Id. at 2160 & n.1. So, “Almendarez-Torres remains

good law,” even after Alleyne. United States v. McDowell, 745

F.3d 115, 124 (4th Cir. 2014).

15
 To say “that a petitioner can be ‘actually innocent’ of a

sentencing enhancement,” rather than an element of the actual

crime, “would require a great deal of both verbal and logical

gymnastics.” Turner v. Warden Coleman FCI (Medium), 709 F.3d

1328, 1334 n.3 (11th Cir. 2013); see also, e.g., Marrero v.

Ives, 682 F.3d 1190, 1193 (9th Cir. 2012) (“[For purposes of the

savings clause,] a petitioner generally cannot assert a

cognizable claim of actual innocence of a noncapital sentencing

enhancement.”); In re Davenport, 147 F.3d 605, 609 (7th Cir.

1998) (explaining that “it would make an arbitrary hole in the

Antiterrorism Act” if the court were to accept an actual-

innocence argument about “a sentence-enhancement statute”); cf.

In re Bradford, 660 F.3d 226, 230 (5th Cir. 2011) (“[A] claim of

actual innocence of a career offender enhancement is not a claim

of actual innocence of the crime of conviction and, thus, not

the type of claim that warrants review under § 2241.”).

The traditional view of actual innocence focuses on the

elements of the crime of conviction, see United States v.

Mikalajunas, 186 F.3d 490, 494 (4th Cir. 1999), and nothing in

Jones deviates from that settled approach. Cf. Sawyer v.

Whitley, 505 U.S. 333, 341 (1992) (remarking that, “[i]n the

context of a noncapital case, the concept of ‘actual innocence’

is easy to grasp,” as it means the defendant did not commit the

charged crime). Jones, after all, concerned “conduct . . .

16
deemed not to be criminal,” not conduct that remains criminal

but subject to a lesser penalty. Jones, 226 F.3d at 334; see

also United States v. Jones, 758 F.3d 579, 586 (4th Cir. 2014)

(“Innocence of conviction implicates the notion that a person

has been incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, whereas a

sentencing error does not at all implicate guilt.”). The

Supreme Court, too, has not said that conduct is rendered

“lawful” merely because the penalty for it is reduced. Schriro

v. Summerlin, 542 U.S. 348, 354 (2004), for example, found that

Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002), did not “render[] some

formerly unlawful conduct lawful or vice versa,” even though

Ring affected the length of sentences for some prisoners. So

too here: Surratt remains as guilty today as he was in 2005.

C.

We recognize that we have applied broader concepts of

actual innocence in other contexts. In United States v.

Pettiford, 612 F.3d 270 (4th Cir. 2010), drawing on earlier

cases, we said that a defendant might establish “actual

innocence” sufficient to excuse his procedural default if “the

defendant clearly showed that he had not committed the crime on

which the calculation of his [recidivist] sentence was based.”

Id. at 283-84; see also Mikalajunas, 186 F.3d at 494-95; United

States v. Maybeck, 23 F.3d 888, 892 (4th Cir. 1994). In other

words, Pettiford and its predecessors suggested that, as to

17
procedural default, a defendant might be “actually innocent”

even if he is only innocent of a predicate conviction, not just

the offense of conviction. But we have also explained that

Pettiford’s view of actual innocence should be confined to its

original context. Pettiford developed in the judge-made realm

of procedural default, where we enjoy more latitude to shape our

own rules and doctrines. We deal here, however, with a

congressionally imposed statutory constraint that is not so

amenable to ad hoc, judge-made exceptions. See Jones, 758 F.3d

at 586 (holding that movant could not evade the § 2255(f)(4)

statute of limitations by claiming “actual innocence of his

sentence”). We are especially reluctant to blaze broad pathways

to § 2255(e) relief given that the provision constitutes only a

“narrow exception.” Cleaver v. Maye, 773 F.3d 230, 232 (10th

Cir. 2014); accord Bryant, 738 F.3d at 1283; Hill v. Werlinger,

695 F.3d 644, 647-48 (7th Cir. 2012); Trenkler v. United States,

536 F.3d 85, 98 (1st Cir. 2008).

Even if we apply Pettiford’s broader view, however, we

still cannot call Surratt “actually innocent.” “[A]ctual

innocence,” the Supreme Court has told us, “means factual

innocence, not mere legal insufficiency.” Bousley v. United

States, 523 U.S. 614, 623 (1998); see also United States v.

Tyler, 732 F.3d 241, 246 (3d Cir. 2013) (“While Bousley

addressed the standard that a petitioner must meet for claims

18
brought under § 2255, this standard applies equally to actual

innocence claims brought under § 2241.”). So, “actual innocence

applies in the context of habitual offender provisions only

where the challenge to eligibility stems from factual innocence

of the predicate crimes, and not from the legal classification

of the predicate crimes.” Pettiford, 612 F.3d at 284; accord

Damon v. United States, 732 F.3d 1, 5-6 (1st Cir. 2013); McKay

v. United States, 657 F.3d 1190, 1199 (11th Cir. 2011). Surratt

does not suggest that he did not commit the crimes listed in the

Government’s original information. He only says Simmons changed

the relevance of those crimes in determining his later sentence.

Surratt’s argument constitutes the sort of argument about “legal

classification” that we have deemed insufficient.

IV.

Although Jones does not present a portal through which

Surratt may pass to obtain post-conviction relief, Jones is not

the exclusive route to § 2255(e) relief in all situations. As

the Government observes, we “had no occasion” in Jones “to

consider whether sentencing errors” like the one claimed here

“are redressable under the savings clause.” Gov’t Br. 23; see

also Illinois v. Lidster, 540 U.S. 419, 424 (2004) (explaining

that “general language in judicial opinions” must be read “as

referring in context to circumstances similar to those then

19
before the Court”). We must examine the text of the savings

clause to decide whether the statute can afford Surratt any

relief. See United States v. Neuhauser, 745 F.3d 125, 128 (4th

Cir. 2014) (starting with the text in a question of statutory

interpretation).

The parties principally discuss whether Surratt’s case

presents a “fundamental miscarriage of justice” and then assume

that this characterization could trigger the savings clause.

Certainly, in deciding whether to provide relief in an initial

§ 2255 motion, we have considered whether a non-constitutional

error “involves a fundamental defect which inherently results in

a complete miscarriage of justice.” Mikalajunas, 186 F.3d at

495; see also, e.g., United States v. Martinez, 139 F.3d 412,

417 n.* (4th Cir. 1998). But we have never tied this

“miscarriage” standard to the entirely separate question of

relief via the savings clause.

Such an approach would confuse the question of

cognizability (that is, what motions may be brought via § 2241

generally) with the separate question that we address here (that

is, what § 2241 claims are barred by § 2255(e)). And the

“miscarriage” standard addresses a different question in still

another way. In particular, the Court adopted the “fundamental

defect” and “miscarriage” standard as a way of identifying those

cases where a petitioner’s failure to bring his claim in his

20
initial direct appeal could be excused. See Reed v. Farley, 512

U.S. 339, 354 (1994). In contrast, § 2255(e) applies to

prisoners who failed to bring their claims twice before: on

direct appeal and in their initial § 2255 motion. Thus, an

interpretation of § 2255(e) focusing on a “miscarriage of

justice” “is less an argument for interpreting § 2255 than it is

one for amending § 2255.” Prost v. Anderson, 636 F.3d 578, 597

(10th Cir. 2011); accord Williams v. Warden, Fed. Bureau of

Prisons, 713 F.3d 1332, 1346 (11th Cir. 2013) (calling the

“miscarriage of justice standard” “plainly inapplicable” to the

question of whether § 2255(e) forecloses a particular § 2241

petition); Perez v. Stephens, 593 F. App’x 402, 403 (5th Cir.

2015) (“Perez’s argument that the actual innocence and

miscarriage of justice standards provide an exception to the

§ 2255 savings clause requirement fails[.]”).

As an appellate court, we are not in the business of

amending statutes. See Dodd v. United States, 545 U.S. 353, 359

(2005) (indicating that the court was “not free to rewrite the

statute that Congress has enacted” even though the restrictions

on § 2255 petitions created “the potential for harsh results in

some cases”). And holding that the “miscarriage of justice”

standard opens the § 2255(e) portal would not just ignore the

text of that section -- it would also erase the limitations on

21
initial motions and “second or successive” motions found in

§§ 2255(f) and (h).

We hold that § 2255(e)’s text does not permit Surratt to

raise his claim under § 2241. And although the dissent insists

that we act “without any textual basis,” dissenting op. at 73,

we observe at least four separate textual factors -- in addition

to the relevant provisions’ context and purpose -- that

establish that Surratt’s claim is foreclosed.

A.

The savings clause first tells us that “the remedy by [a

§ 2255] motion [must be] inadequate or ineffective to test the

legality of [Surratt’s] detention” before he can proceed under

§ 2241. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e) (emphasis added). We find

Congress’s deliberate use of the word “test,” rather than a more

expansive term like “guarantee” or “ensure,” very meaningful.

To “test” means to “put to the proof.” Oxford English

Dictionary (2d ed. 1989). In other words, the statutory text

anticipates the opportunity to raise a challenge or argument.

See, e.g., Wag More Dogs, Ltd. Liab. Corp. v. Cozart, 680 F.3d

359, 365 n.3 (4th Cir. 2012) (equating the government’s ability

“to test the plausibility of the claim” with its ability to

raise the relevant argument and offer particular evidence); NLRB

v. Inter-City Advertising Co., 154 F.2d 244, 246 (4th Cir. 1946)

(saying that an employer had no way “to test” an administrative

22
determination where it had no legal avenue to object).

Therefore, “the clause is concerned with process -- ensuring the

petitioner an opportunity to bring his argument -- not with

substance -- guaranteeing nothing about what the opportunity

promised will ultimately yield in terms of relief.” Prost, 636

F.3d at 584; see also Taylor v. Gilkey, 314 F.3d 832, 835 (7th

Cir. 2002) (agreeing that § 2255(e)’s use of the term “test”

“implies a focus on procedures rather than outcomes”). We too

have focused on the “opportunity” or “unobstructed procedural

shot” afforded by § 2255, not on the ultimate result of a motion

under that section, in defining the scope of the savings clause.

Rice, 617 F.3d at 807. We have stressed that § 2255(e) will not

permit an individual’s § 2241 petition “merely because [the]

individual has been unable to obtain relief under [§ 2255] or

because an individual is procedurally barred from filing a

§ 2255 motion.” In re Vial, 115 F.3d 1192, 1194 n.5 (4th Cir.

1997). In § 2255, Congress meant to provide a chance to be

heard, not a right to prevail on any particular argument. See,

e.g., Cleaver, 773 F.3d at 233 (offering an example of

permissible savings clause relief in which “the original

sentencing court has been abolished or dissolved and the

petitioner has nowhere to file a § 2255 petition”).

Surratt clearly could have “test[ed]” the legality of his

detention in his initial § 2255 motion. Surratt also chose to

23
forego any challenge to his mandatory sentence on direct appeal.

At both steps, then, he had the opportunity to claim that a

lower mandatory sentence should have applied because he did not

qualify as a two-time drug felon. His choice to focus his

§ 2255 motion on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel

proves most important here, as he cannot complain of his

inability to “test” his detention in a post-conviction

proceeding when § 2255 offered him that chance and he declined

to take it. “A prisoner cannot be permitted to lever his way

into section 2241 by making his section 2255 remedy

inadequate[.]” Morales v. Bezy, 499 F.3d 668, 672 (7th Cir.

2007).

But Surratt protests that “the basis for [his] claim was

foreclosed by circuit precedent at the time[.]” Opening Br. 20.

That argument fails for at least two reasons.

As a factual matter, we cannot know whether Surratt’s claim

might have led to relief because he never made it. We do know

that “many defendants . . . filed suits prior to Simmons

asserting the exact same substantive claim that [Surratt] now

raises, including, of course, Simmons himself.” Whiteside v.

United States, 775 F.3d 180, 186 (4th Cir. 2014) (en banc)

(collecting cases). And indeed, “[t]he nature of statutory

interpretation requires that someone present the argument before

the courts can define the law” or, as in Simmons, change it.

24
Bryan Florendo, Prost v. Anderson and the Enigmatic Savings

Clause of § 2555: When Is A Remedy By Motion “Inadequate or

Ineffective”?, 89 Denv. U.L. Rev. 435, 454 (2012).

As a legal matter, courts do not permit petitioners special

favors because the petitioners misjudged their claims as futile

and chose not to present them in the first instance. In fact,

the Supreme Court has held a “dismissive” attitude toward “the

contention that an argument’s legal futility is the same as a

court’s inability to entertain the argument[.]” Brown v.

Caraway, 719 F.3d 583, 598 (7th Cir. 2013) (Easterbrook, J.,

statement concerning the circulation under Circuit Rule 40(e)).

In the procedural default context, for instance, “futility

cannot constitute cause if it means simply that a claim was

unacceptable to that particular court at that particular time.”

Bousley, 523 U.S. at 623. Futility also provides no basis to

toll § 2255’s statute of limitations. See Whiteside, 775 F.3d

at 185; Minter v. Beck, 230 F.3d 663, 666-67 (4th Cir. 2000)

(same). The same principle applies here: “[t]he § 2255 remedial

vehicle was fully available and amply sufficient to test the

argument, whether or not [Surratt] thought to raise it.” Prost,

636 F.3d at 589. Admittedly, through Simmons, “a shift in the

law . . . has given increased relevance to a point made at the

trial but not pursued on appeal.” Sunal v. Large, 332 U.S. 174,

182 (1947). But to permit this shift to open the gate to habeas

25
relief would render “litigation in these criminal cases . . .

interminable.” Id.; cf. Whiteside, 775 F.3d at 186 (noting that

the “myriad of substantive changes in law past the point of

finality” would cause “a tectonic shift of resources” if courts

treated them as enough to evade procedural bars).

Section 2255(e) means to preserve a prisoner’s “remedy,”

not his “relief.” See, e.g., Tolliver v. Dobre, 211 F.3d 876,

878 (5th Cir. 2000) (“We join our sister circuits that have held

that a prior unsuccessful § 2255 motion . . . do[es] not make

§ 2255 inadequate or ineffective.”). This distinction is

reflected in other portions of the habeas statutes, where

“remedy” similarly means an avenue or mechanism for relief, not

the relief itself. See § 2254(b)(1)(A) (referring to exhaustion

of state “remedies”); see also Vial, 115 F.3d at 1194 n.5

(referring to § 2255’s “remedy” as separate from its “relief”).

That distinction likewise implies that what matters is the

ability to make the request, not the ability to win it.

These reasons aside, we note that substantial practical

difficulties could follow if we held that a prisoner could not

“test” his detention because adverse circuit precedent once

“foreclosed” his claim. Neither Surratt nor the Government

informs us, for instance, how clear circuit precedent must be

before it “forecloses” the prisoner’s claim. Perhaps, under the

parties’ approach, analogous precedent might do; perhaps not.

26
Nor do they tell us why our precedent alone “forecloses” an

argument even though Supreme Court review remains available.

And they do not explain when the foreclosure must arise. We

find it better to avoid these questions by adhering to a more

direct understanding of “test.”

As Jones reflects, our interpretation of “test” yields in

cases involving actual innocence of the crime of conviction.

“[A] thorny constitutional issue” could result if “no other

avenue of judicial review [were] available for a party who

claims that s/he is factually or legally innocent as a result of

a previously unavailable statutory interpretation[.]” In re

Dorsainvil, 119 F.3d 245, 248 (3d Cir. 1997); accord Triestman,

124 F.3d at 378-79; cf. Davis v. United States, 417 U.S. 333,

346-47 (1974). “For under our federal system it is only

Congress, and not the courts, which can make conduct criminal.”

Bousley, 523 U.S. at 620-21. Generally, “courts will construe

[a] statute to avoid [constitutional] problems unless such

construction is plainly contrary to the intent of Congress.”

United States v. Hamilton, 699 F.3d 356, 367 (4th Cir. 2012).

Therefore, we read Jones as an outgrowth of this constitutional

avoidance doctrine. But because Surratt presents no genuine

claim of actual innocence of the crime of conviction, no “thorny

constitutional issues” arise here.

27
 B.

In much the same way as “test,” the statute’s references to

inadequacy and ineffectiveness tell us that § 2255(e) preserves

only the chance to request relief, not the ultimate and absolute

right to obtain it.

We see this notion in cases evaluating whether other

“substitute” habeas remedies are adequate and effective. In

Swain v. Pressley, 430 U.S. 372 (1977), the Supreme Court

examined a provision of the District of Columbia Code that

channeled collateral review of convictions in the Superior Court

of the District of Columbia back into that court (rather than

through federal courts via habeas review). In finding the

provision adequate and effective, the Court focused on the

opportunity that the statute afforded, including the relief that

the prisoner could request and the manner in which the court

would consider his request. Id. at 381-84. Similarly, in

Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 (2008), the Court analyzed

whether combatant status review tribunals afforded an adequate

and effective substitute to habeas corpus for enemy combatants

held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Court again concentrated on

the “opportunity” that the substitute offered -- not on the

outcome, id. at 779, asking whether the “sum total of procedural

protections” sufficed, id. at 783. These cases both make the

same fundamental point: the chance to argue a claim is the

28
relevant criterion for adequacy and effectiveness, not any

particular disposition of that claim.

When discussing “effectiveness” and “adequacy” in other

areas of the law, we likewise focus on processes, not outcomes.

We do not declare that counsel rendered “ineffective” assistance

any time his particular argument fails and the client loses.

Similarly, a state’s appellate procedures satisfy the Fourteenth

Amendment’s guarantee to an “adequate and effective” appeal so

long as those procedures provide certain minimum safeguards.

See Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. 259, 276-84 (2000). When

deciding whether we can enjoin a state criminal prosecution, we

also must pass on whether the party seeking relief “has an

adequate remedy at law.” Trainor v. Hernandez, 431 U.S. 434,

440 (1977). In doing so, we consider whether the movant has an

“opportunity to raise and have timely decided . . . the federal

issues involved.” Id. at 441. These and other examples suggest

that we should not assess § 2255’s effectiveness by weighing the

historic outcome under that motion against the outcome we would

reach today in an initial appeal from trial. We should instead

ask only whether the procedures in § 2255 provided a genuine

opportunity for the petitioner to raise his present claim.

Surratt never suggests that the § 2255 mechanism denied him

a chance to make his present argument. At best, he says only

that our pre-Simmons reading of § 841(b)(1)(A) did. See Prost,

29
636 F.3d at 590 (“[W]henever legal error occurs it may very well

mean circuit law is inadequate or deficient. But that does not

mean the § 2255 remedial vehicle is inadequate or ineffective to

the task of testing the argument.”). We understand Surratt’s

reluctance to attack § 2255 head-on, as courts have upheld the

statute as an adequate and effective means to challenge the

detention of a federal prisoner for some 60 years. United

States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 219 (1952). But the point

remains: no deficiency in § 2255 itself precluded Surratt from

lodging his sentencing challenge, so we cannot call § 2255

“inadequate” or “ineffective” here.

C.

The savings clause also focuses on the “legality” of the

relevant detention. Especially in the post-conviction context,

courts have recognized “unlawful” or “illegal” sentences in a

narrow subset of cases. Actual innocence of the crime of

conviction may present that sort of a case, as courts have long

understood that “[a]n imprisonment under a judgment” becomes

“unlawful” if “that judgment be an absolute nullity.” Ex parte

Watkins, 28 U.S. (3 Pet.) 193, 203 (1830). And a sentence

imposed above the proper statutory maximum might present another

instance of an unlawful sentence, as “the power . . . to

prescribe the punishments to be imposed upon those found guilty

of [federal crimes] resides wholly with the Congress.” Whalen

30
v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 689 (1980); see also United

States v. Addonizio, 442 U.S. 178, 186 (1979); accord Sun Bear

v. United States, 644 F.3d 700, 705 (8th Cir. 2011) (“An

unlawful or illegal sentence is one imposed without, or in

excess of, statutory authority.”); United States v. Gonzalez-

Huerta, 403 F.3d 727, 739 n.10 (10th Cir. 2005) (“[T]he term

‘illegal sentence’ is reserved for those instances where the

term of incarceration exceeds the statutory maximum[.]”).

As we explained in another context, though, “not every

[proceeding] alleging a legal error in sentencing challenges

that sentence as ‘illegal.’” United States v. Thornsbury, 670

F.3d 532, 539 (4th Cir. 2012). We have said that “illegal”

sentences “involve[] much more fundamental issues -- such as

challenges claiming a district court exceeded its authority,

claiming that a sentence was based on a constitutionally

impermissible factor such as race, or claiming a post-plea

violation of the right to counsel.” Id. In like manner, the

Supreme Court explained that a sentence was “not illegal” where,

among other things, “[t]he punishment meted out was not in

excess of that prescribed by the relevant statutes [and]

multiple terms were not imposed for the same offense.” Hill v.

United States, 368 U.S. 424, 430 (1962); accord United States v.

Pavlico, 961 F.2d 440, 443 (4th Cir. 1992).

31
 In accordance with this view, courts largely have not

recognized an “illegal” detention -- one that would trigger the

savings clause -- where the defendant challenges a sentence

within the correct statutory maximum. See, e.g., United States

v. Powell, 691 F.3d 554, 563 (4th Cir. 2012) (King, J.,

dissenting in part and concurring in part) (indicating that a

sentence would be “lawful” if it “falls within the unenhanced

statutory maximum”). The Sixth Circuit noted this general rule,

for example, in holding that the defendants’ sentence-focused

claims did not “fall within any arguable construction” of the

savings clause. United States v. Peterman, 249 F.3d 458, 462

(6th Cir. 2001). The Eleventh Circuit likewise held that a

federal prisoner could not bring a claim that “would otherwise

be barred by § 2255(h)” in a § 2241 petition where the asserted

error “resulted in a longer sentence not exceeding the statutory

maximum.” Gilbert v. United States, 640 F.3d 1293, 1323 (11th

Cir. 2011) (en banc); see also Bryant, 738 F.3d at 1288 (“[A]ny

§ 2241 challenge to a sentence that is already below the

authorized statutory maximum could not open the § 2255(e)

portal.”); accord Trenkler, 536 F.3d at 99 (labeling

petitioner’s claim “incompatible with engagement of the savings

clause” where he did “not charge that [his] life sentence [wa]s

beyond the statutory maximum for the crimes of conviction”).

For a time, at least, even the Government agreed that a federal

32
prisoner could not attack a sub-maximum sentence through a

§ 2241 petition. See Wilson v. Wilson, No. 1:11cv645 (TSE/TCB),

2012 WL 1245671, at *3 n.2 (E.D. Va. Apr. 12, 2012) (quoting the

“position of the United States” that “savings clause relief is

foreclosed for an erroneous sentence within the statutory

maximum”). That view also comports with § 2255’s scope, which

provides sentencing relief only in cases involving “violations

of statutes establishing maximum sentences.” United States v.

Pregent, 190 F.3d 279, 284 (4th Cir. 1999).

This widely held view of “legality” should foreclose

Surratt’s claim. He never suggests that he received a sentence

above the applicable statutory maximum. He cannot. All parties

agree that Surratt has at least one prior felony drug

conviction, regardless of Simmons. A defendant like Surratt who

violates 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846 after a single “prior

conviction for a felony drug offense has become final . . .

shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be

less than 20 years and no more than life imprisonment[.]” 21

U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A).

Surratt often emphasizes that his sentence is “without

parole,” but that does not create any special issue. In the

present federal system, life imprisonment is equivalent to life

without parole in every case. See Richmond v. Polk, 375 F.3d

309, 316 (4th Cir. 2004) (“[T]he Sentencing Reform Act of 1984

33
abolished parole for federal offenses committed after November

1, 1984[.]”); see also 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b) (stating that

prisoners serving life sentences are not entitled to a deduction

for good time credits). When Congress abolished parole in 1984,

it essentially “translate[d] every life sentence into life

without possibility of parole.” United States v. Gonzalez, 922

F.2d 1044, 1051 (2d Cir. 1991). Thus, Surratt’s life sentence

does not exceed the maximum that the district court could have

imposed had Simmons been issued before Surratt’s sentencing. In

other words, Surratt’s sentence does not offend the limits of

punishment, such that we could question his detention’s

“legality.”

Tacitly recognizing the weakness of his position under the

majority view, Surratt urges us to adopt a distinct minority

view that he considers “persuasive.” Opening Br. 22 (citing

Brown, 719 F.3d 583).

But even under this outlier decision, Surratt cannot

prevail. In Brown, the Seventh Circuit permitted a prisoner to

challenge the length of his sentence through a § 2241 petition

even though that sentence fell below the statutory maximum. Id.

at 588. But Brown concerned a pre-Booker sentence imposed under

the formerly mandatory Guidelines regime. See id. (stressing

that the defendant was sentenced in “the pre-Booker era” (citing

United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005)). For the Seventh

34
Circuit, this historical fact made all the difference, as it

believed that -- at least when courts treated the Guidelines as

mandatory -- “the only lawful sentence was a [G]uidelines

sentence.” Id. Regardless of whether the Seventh Circuit

correctly characterized the former Guidelines regime (and we

need not say here whether it did, see Gilbert, 640 F.3d at 1306-

07), its view on the savings-clause issue exists in harmony with

the approach taken by all other courts. Quite simply, the

Seventh Circuit believed that it could permit a § 2241 petition

because, at least pre-Booker, an unjustified above-Guidelines

sentence equated to a sentence above the statutory maximum. The

top of the Guidelines range provided the relevant maximum

sentence, and Brown’s sentence exceeded the pre-Booker maximum

Guidelines sentence. In contrast, in cases involving the post-

Booker advisory Guidelines, even the Seventh Circuit recognizes

that courts cannot correct sentencing errors in post-conviction

proceedings, under § 2241 or otherwise, if the sentence “is

below the statutory maximum.” Hawkins v. United States, 706

F.3d 820, 823 (7th Cir. 2013).

Here, the district court sentenced Surratt under the post-

Booker, advisory Guidelines scheme. As a result, his life

sentence does not exceed the statutory maximum sentence, and

even Brown would afford him no relief. Thus, we cannot deem his

detention “illegal.”

35
 D.

Pointing to the savings clause’s reference to “detention,”

Surratt suggests Congress meant to permit claims like his. But

Congress used the term “sentence” in some portions of § 2255,

see 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a)-(b), and “conviction” or “offense” in

other parts, id. §§ 2255(f)(1), (h)(1). It chose not to use

those terms in the savings clause, id. § 2255(e), and we “are

obligated to give effect to Congress’s decision to use different

language in proximate subsections of the same statute.” United

States v. Brandon, 247 F.3d 186, 190 (4th Cir. 2001). We think

the statutory term “detention” is yet another textual indication

that § 2255(e) bars Surratt’s petition; it draws a line not

between conviction and sentencing challenges, but between

permissible challenges to executive acts and impermissible

challenges to the acts of other branches of government.

“Detention” concerns the act of physically confining or

restraining an individual. See, e.g., Oxford English Dictionary

(2d ed. 1989) (“Keeping in custody or confinement.”); Black’s

Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014) (“The act or an instance of

holding a person in custody; confinement or compulsory delay.”).

Physical confinement stands separate and apart from the

sentence, and some detentions that may give rise to a habeas

petition do not follow criminal sentences at all. Pre-trial

detentions provide one common example, see 18 U.S.C. § 3142(e),

36
but other instances come to mind, including detentions in

instances of civil contempt, detentions in connection with

immigration proceedings, detentions of material witnesses, or

civil detention of sexually dangerous persons, see Neuhauser,

745 F.3d at 125-31. Rather than being tied in all cases to a

sentence as criminal punishment, then, § 2255(e)’s reference to

“detention” speaks to physical restraint of a person’s liberty.

In contrast to the rendering of a criminal sentence by the

judiciary, the physical holding of a federal prisoner represents

an executive function, a “keeping back or withholding” by the

executive branch. See Samak v. Warden, FCC Coleman-Medium, 766

F.3d 1271, 1280 (11th Cir. 2014) (Pryor, J., concurring). The

Attorney General, acting through the Bureau of Prisons, acts as

the “detainer,” and the sentencing court does not involve itself

in keeping the prisoner restrained. See 18 U.S.C. § 3621(a)

(explaining that the Bureau of Prisons has the responsibility to

detain a person “who has been sentenced to a term of

imprisonment . . . until the expiration of the term imposed, or

until earlier released for satisfactory behavior”); see also,

e.g., Janko v. Gates, 741 F.3d 136, 141 (D.C. Cir. 2014)

(agreeing with a party’s concession that “courts ordinarily

don’t detain people”). We see this concept in action in those

instances where Congress precluded the sentencing court from

involving itself too much in the ongoing aspects of a detention.

37
See United States v. Wilson, 503 U.S. 329, 334 (1992) (holding

that a sentencing court may not calculate credit for time

already spent in custody, as that task belongs to the Attorney

General); see also, e.g., United States v. Ceballos, 671 F.3d

852, 855 (9th Cir. 2011) (“[T]he [sentencing] court has no

jurisdiction to select the place where the sentence will be

served. Authority to determine place of confinement resides in

the executive branch of government[.]”).

Even the venue provisions of §§ 2241 and 2255 reflect an

executive versus non-executive dichotomy. A petitioner must

bring his § 2241 petition in the district of confinement, where

the court can summon the warden to defend his actions. In

contrast, a petitioner must move for § 2255 relief before the

district court that sentenced him, where the sentencing court

and the original prosecuting United States Attorney may bring

their expertise to bear.

A challenge to “detention” through § 2255(e) should

therefore focus on acts of the executive branch, rather than the

judicial branch. See Munaf v. Geren, 553 U.S. 674, 693 (2008)

(“Habeas is at its core a remedy for unlawful executive

detention.”); INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 301 (2001) (same);

accord Samak, 766 F.3d at 1291 (Pryor, J., concurring);

Trenkler, 536 F.3d at 96. Hence, a § 2241 attack on “detention”

lodged through § 2255(e) should entail a challenge to (1) the

38
right and authority of the executive to keep the individual in

custody; or (2) the manner in which the executive executes the

detention. That reading serves the historic purposes of the

writ as well. Boumediene, 553 U.S. at 745 (“The [Suspension]

Clause protects the rights of the detained by affirming the duty

and authority of the Judiciary to call the jailer to account.”).

Focusing on the executive’s power of restraint draws a

clear line -- a line consistent with long-accepted petitions

under § 2241. For example, we have previously noted that § 2241

petitioners can challenge the Bureau of Prison’s calculation of

good time credits. See Yi, 412 F.3d at 530. That makes sense:

if a prisoner deserves good-time credits but the Bureau of

Prisons denies them, then an error by the executive may cause

the warden to hold the prisoner without authority -- that is,

beyond the time prescribed by Congress and the sentencing court.

See Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 487 (1973) (finding that

prisoners’ petition concerning good-time credits “fell squarely

within th[e] traditional scope of habeas corpus” because “[t]hey

alleged that the deprivation of their good-conduct-time credits

was causing or would cause them to be in illegal physical

confinement” (emphasis added)). Similarly, when federal

sentencing allowed for parole, § 2241 provided a vehicle to

challenge parole revocation. See Vial, 115 F.3d at 1194 n.5. A

pre-trial detainee might also invoke § 2241 if he is not timely

39
arraigned or tried; in that situation, the warden’s acts of

continuing to detain the prisoner could render the detention

improper under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. See United

States v. Tootle, 65 F.3d 381, 383 (4th Cir. 1995). And the

same principle may explain our decision in Jones: if a change in

law renders the prisoner’s conduct “non-criminal,” then the

warden would have no authority to hold the now-innocent

defendant.

Contrast these commonly accepted claims with Surratt’s

present one, which has little to do with any executive-branch

action. By all accounts, the warden is holding Surratt under a

validly entered sentencing order. Surratt does not suggest that

the warden is violating his statutory or constitutional rights.

And the warden is detaining Surratt pursuant to a sentence that

Congress empowered the district court to impose -- that is, a

sentence within the statutory limits. Surratt’s petition does

not therefore attack any act of detention by the executive

branch. Thus, Congress would not have expected federal

prisoners to bring this type of a claim in a § 2241 petition via

the savings clause.

E.

The broader context of § 2255 further convinces us that

Surratt cannot invoke § 2241. “[S]tatutory construction is a

holistic endeavor, and we therefore must evaluate the statutory

40
language itself, the specific context in which such statutory

language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a

whole.” R.H. Donnelley Corp. v. United States, 641 F.3d 70, 76

(4th Cir. 2011). Particularly in post-conviction proceedings

like this one, context often proves decisive. See, e.g.,

Taylor, 314 F.3d at 836 (relying in part on the “history” of

§ 2255(e) to reject a putative § 2241 petition).

If Surratt were permitted to raise his sentencing challenge

in a § 2241 petition, we would thwart almost every one of the

careful limits that Congress placed on post-conviction

challenges to a federal prisoner’s sentence. And we would do so

in a broad class of cases. Quite simply, “Congress would have

accomplished nothing at all in its attempts -- through statutes

like AEDPA -- to place limits on federal collateral review.”

Triestman, 124 F.3d at 376. This comprehensive conflict between

Surratt’s view and so many different parts of the statute

convinces us that we are not “pick[ing] and choos[ing]” some

parts of the statute over others, as the dissent alleges.

Instead, we are simply “constru[ing] all parts to have meaning.”

United States v. Briley, 770 F.3d 267, 273 (4th Cir. 2014).

If we embraced Surratt’s position, then the limits found in

§ 2255(h) would first fall. That section provides that a

prisoner may bring a second or successive § 2255 motion only if

the prisoner (1) produces newly discovered evidence of actual

41
innocence; or (2) relies upon “a new rule of constitutional law,

made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme

Court, that was previously unavailable.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h).

The prisoner cannot bring his second or successive motion until

we grant him a certificate of authorization indicating that the

motion satisfies one of these two conditions. Id. “When

Congress adopted § 2255(h), it was undoubtedly aware that

prisoners might wish to press other sorts of arguments,” that

is, arguments other than actual innocence or constitutional

error, “in second or successive motions.” Prost, 636 F.3d at

585. Nevertheless, Congress decided to bar those “other”

arguments outright. Surratt, however, means to bring one of the

very claims that Congress foreclosed, albeit under a different

caption. That course would produce an illogical, if not absurd,

result: § 2255(h)’s restrictions would continue to apply to

prisoners bringing Congressionally preferred claims, while no

restrictions would apply to prisoners bringing claims that

Congress did not contemplate at all. Surratt’s version of

§ 2255(e) would then return us, at least in part, to the pre-

AEDPA world, where “prisoners [could] file as many collateral

attacks as they please[d], provided that they [did]n’t abuse the

writ.” Taylor, 314 F.3d at 836.

Moreover, Surratt premises his claim on a circuit-level

decision, even though § 2255(h) specifically states that only a

42
retroactive Supreme Court decision should open the door to

successive relief. No court has permitted a petitioner to bring

a claim via the savings clause premised only on a change in

circuit-level authority. Instead, the available authority all

requires Supreme Court precedent. See Tyler, 732 F.3d at 246

(listing an “intervening Supreme Court decision” as one of

several facts required to bring a claim via the savings clause);

Kenemore v. Roy, 690 F.3d 639, 641 (5th Cir. 2012) (stating that

a claim brought via the savings clause must be “based on a

retroactively applicable Supreme Court decision”); Davenport,

147 F.3d at 611 (noting an “obvious” “qualification[]” that a

“change of law” could not qualify a prisoner to seek § 2241

relief unless “the change of law [w]as . . . made retroactive by

the Supreme Court”); Wofford v. Scott, 177 F.3d 1236, 1245 (11th

Cir. 1999) (“[T]he only sentencing claims that may conceivably

be covered by the savings clause are those based upon a

retroactively applicable Supreme Court decision overturning

circuit precedent.”).

Holding otherwise would elevate circuit court precedent to

the level of retroactive Supreme Court precedent without any

congressional authority to do so. The Government once

recognized this point, too. See Brief for the Respondent in

Opposition at 14, Williams v. Hastings, 135 S. Ct. 52 (2014)

(No. 13-1221), 2014 WL 3749512 (arguing that the savings clause

43
applies to petitions raising certain sentencing errors “when the

error is revealed by a retroactively applicable decision of [the

Supreme] Court”). In pressing a contrary position, the best

case the dissent can summon is one in which another circuit

court permitted a § 2241 petition to be brought based on an

assumedly retroactive Supreme Court decision. See Light v.

Caraway, 761 F.3d 809, 814 (7th Cir. 2014). Given that

Surratt’s case involves no Supreme Court decision at all, that

case strikes us as irrelevant.

Surratt’s concept of retroactivity produces other anomalous

results. Under his approach, a petitioner invoking a new

statutory interpretation from the Fourth Circuit could file

immediately for § 2241 relief, with no need to wait for a

declaration of retroactivity. Meanwhile, a petitioner invoking

a new constitutional rule promulgated by the Supreme Court would

have to wait for an explicit statement from that court rendering

the rule retroactive. See Tyler v. Cain, 533 U.S. 656, 663

(2001) (“The new rule becomes retroactive, not by the decisions

of the lower court or by the combined action of the Supreme

Court and the lower courts, but simply by the action of the

Supreme Court.”). We “resist attributing to Congress an

intention to render a statute so internally inconsistent.”

Greenlaw v. United States, 554 U.S. 237, 251 (2008).

44
 Movants under § 2255 must also comply with a one-year

statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f), and this provision

would also fall victim to Surratt’s view. A prisoner hamstrung

by § 2255(f) could file a § 2241 petition, as § 2241 contains no

statute of limitations. We only recently held, en banc, that

the supposed futility of raising a Simmons-like claim before we

decided Simmons would not permit an untimely § 2255 motion

raising that sort of claim. See Whiteside, 775 F.3d at 184-87.

But if Surratt proved correct, then that decision would mean

next to nothing. A different caption on his otherwise time-

barred petition would permit the federal prisoner to go forward.

Were we to adopt Surratt’s view, the differing venue

provisions in § 2241 and § 2255 would also invite mischief in

circumstances like these. A prisoner sentenced in this circuit

would file his initial § 2255 motion here. If that motion

failed, and the prisoner happened to be held in a different

circuit (as so often happens in the federal prison system), then

the prisoner could seek relief via § 2241 in that circuit. One

of two unusual things would then happen: the § 2241 court would

either apply the law of a different circuit to assess where the

prisoner’s petition stands, see, e.g., Samak, 766 F.3d at 1275

n.3, or it would apply its own law, see, e.g., United States v.

Wyatt, 672 F.3d 519, 523 (7th Cir. 2012). Either way, any

number of inconsistent results could flow from this disjointed

45
approach. By contrast, if challenges like Surratt’s are

confined to the § 2255 motions, then only the sentencing court

will consider them, and the motion will only implicate our

circuit’s law.

Surratt’s interpretation of the savings clause would also

have strange implications for appeal rights. “Congress has the

power to preclude any appeal from an order dismissing a writ of

habeas corpus, since a party to a suit has no vested right to an

appeal.” United States v. Brooks, 245 F.3d 291, 293 (3d Cir.

2001). And Congress exercised that power: a § 2255 movant

cannot appeal the district court’s decision on his motion unless

the district or circuit court first grants a certificate of

appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B). That certificate

only issues when the movant has “made a substantial showing of

the denial of a constitutional right.” See id. § 2253(c)(2);

see also Jennings v. Stephens, 135 S. Ct. 793, 807 (2015)

(Thomas, J., dissenting) (“One of the key ways in which AEDPA

encourages finality is to narrow the scope of appellate review

by requiring habeas petitioners to obtain [certificates of

appealability].”). So, a § 2255 movant who raises a Simmons-

claim might be unable to appeal because his claim does not

present constitutional issues. See United States v. Hadden, 475

F.3d 652, 665 (4th Cir. 2007) (“[B]ecause a [certificate of

appealability] will not issue for allegations of non-

46
constitutional error, he would not be able to obtain appellate

review of any purely statutory errors at his sentencing[.]”);

accord Young v. United States, 523 F.3d 717, 718 (7th Cir.

2008); United States v. Christensen, 456 F.3d 1205, 1206 (10th

Cir. 2006); Mateo v. United States, 310 F.3d 39, 41-42 (1st Cir.

2002); United States v. Brooks, 230 F.3d 643, 646 (3d Cir.

2000). But § 2241 contains no such limits on appeal.

Therefore, applying Surratt’s reading of the savings clause, a

petitioner could evade Congress’s conscious constraint on

appellate review just by filing a § 2241 petition, losing, and

then exercising his automatic entitlement to appellate review.

We should not allow the savings clause to “create a detour”

around § 2255’s restrictions, as those restrictions would then

be “rendered a nullity.” Reyes-Requena, 243 F.3d at 901 n.19;

cf. Trenkler, 536 F.3d at 97 (“The strictures of section 2255

cannot be sidestepped by the simple expedient of resorting to

some more exotic writ.”). Accordingly, we decline to dismantle

the protections that Congress created in § 2255 by adopting

Surratt’s expansive reading of the savings clause.

F.

Lastly, we must take account of Congress’ general purpose

in enacting the various provisions at issue. See Broughman v.

Carver, 624 F.3d 670, 677 (4th Cir. 2010); accord McCreary Cnty.

v. ACLU, 545 U.S. 844, 861 (2005) (“Examination of purpose is a

47
staple of statutory interpretation that makes up the daily fare

of every appellate court in the country.”). Congressional

purpose confirms that § 2255(e) does not apply to cases like

this one.

Our narrower reading of the savings clause preserves one of

the most important purposes that AEDPA sought to serve:

finality. Although AEDPA serves multiple objectives, including

“comity, finality, and federalism,” Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S.

420, 436 (2000), the foremost AEDPA goal -- the act’s “central

concern” -- is Congress’ intent that “the merits of concluded

criminal proceedings not be revisited in the absence of a strong

showing of actual innocence,” Calderon v. Thompson, 523 U.S.

538, 558 (1998). Surratt and the dissent both seek to untether

§ 2255(e) from any actual innocence requirement. Instead, they

would have us create a new rule contradicting Congress’ chief

goal in enacting AEDPA -- one that would apply to most any

imaginable sentencing enhancement that we later believe could

have erroneously increased a petitioner’s sentence. We see few

limiting principles in that kind of rule, and take little

comfort in Surratt’s assurances that it would apply in only a

few cases (so long as he receives relief here).

Further, even before AEDPA, “the concern with finality

served by the limitation on collateral attack ha[d] special

force with respect to convictions,” like Surratt’s, “based on

48
guilty pleas.” United States v. Timmreck, 441 U.S. 780, 784

(1979); see also United States v. Fugit, 703 F.3d 248, 252-53

(4th Cir. 2012) (discussing the historical importance of

finality, especially as to guilty pleas). Plea agreements work

“only if dispositions by guilty plea are accorded a great

measure of finality.” Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 71

(1977). Thus, “a voluntary and intelligent plea of guilty made

by an accused person, who has been advised by competent counsel,

[usually] may not be collaterally attacked.” Mabry v. Johnson,

467 U.S. 504, 508 (1984). This rule holds even when the law

later changes in the petitioner’s favor, as “the possibility of

a favorable change in the law occurring after a plea is one of

the normal risks that accompan[y] a guilty plea.” United States

v. Archie, 771 F.3d 217, 222 (4th Cir. 2014).

Undeniably, “the Federal Government, no less than the

States, has an interest in the finality of its criminal

judgments.” United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 166 (1982).

For “[w]thout finality, the criminal law is deprived of much of

its deterrent effect.” Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 309

(1989). “A procedural system which permits an endless

repetition of inquiry into facts and law . . . implies a lack of

confidence about the possibilities of justice that cannot but

war with the effectiveness of underlying substantive commands.”

McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467, 492 (1991); accord Custis v.

49
United States, 511 U.S. 485, 497 (1994) (“[I]nroads on the

concept of finality tend to undermine confidence in the

integrity of our procedures [.]”); see also Henry J. Friendly,

Is Innocence Irrelevant? Collateral Attack on Criminal

Judgments, 38 U. Chi. L. Rev. 142, 145 (1970) (“The proverbial

man from Mars would surely think we must consider our system of

criminal justice terribly bad if we are willing to tolerate such

efforts at undoing judgments of conviction.”). A waning of

confidence would follow if we revisited convictions repeatedly,

especially when the defendant conceded his guilt. It seems even

odder to revisit convictions where, as here, the petitioner

accepted an appeal waiver in his plea agreement. Even though

the Government has chosen not to enforce that waiver, its

presence means that Surratt expected to have no later chance for

any kind of review when he first agreed to plea guilty.

Although one might find it tempting to put finality

concerns aside for the sake of self-designed notions of

fairness, we have recognized that “there are dangers” in

“subordinat[ing] [finality] to the equities of the individual

case,” “especially if so vague a term as ‘fairness’ is to be the

touchstone.” In re Under Seal, 749 F.3d 276, 289 (4th Cir.

2014). Courts also have “never . . . defined the scope of the

writ [of habeas corpus] simply by reference to a perceived need

to assure that an individual accused of crime is afforded a

50
trial free of constitutional,” let alone statutory, “error.”

Teague, 489 U.S. at 308. No doubt, if we put finality aside

when it suited us, we would invite a disquieting indeterminacy

into our judicial system. And it’s hard to see where this

“fairness” exception would end. So, “[w]e do not pause to

consider whether a statute differently conceived and framed

would yield results more consonant with fairness and reason. We

take the statute as we find it.” Anderson v. Wilson, 289 U.S.

20, 27 (1933).

Finality offers tangible benefits for the judicial system.

At the very least, it ensures that court resources focus on the

initial trial and appeal stage. In contrast, “[i]f every

favorable precedential decision could become . . . a ticket to

being resentenced, the criminal justice system would need to

continually marshal resources in order to keep in prison

defendants whose trials and appeals and sentences conformed to

then-existing constitutional and statutory standards.”

Whiteside, 775 F.3d at 186. Finality also provides closure to

victims and the defendant: it assures the victim that his

assailant will be punished, while it directs the defendant to

move on with his life. And finality provides important

incentives to litigants. If defendants know that they cannot

raise arguments more than once, then they will exercise greater

51
diligence and invoke whatever rights they may have early on.

See Wainright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 90 (1977).

We decline to dispense with these many benefits -- deriving

from AEDPA’s central objective of finality -- by accepting

Surratt’s view of § 2255(e).

V.

Invoking the canon of constitutional avoidance, Surratt

suggests that we must permit his petition because a failure to

do so would present substantial constitutional concerns.

Specifically, he argues that denying him relief under § 2255(e)

would raise questions related to due process, equal protection,

separation-of-powers principles, and the Suspension Clause. We

disagree.

The canon of constitutional avoidance is an ill fit to this

case. “The canon is a tool for choosing between competing

plausible interpretations of a provision.” Warger v. Shauers,

135 S. Ct. 521, 529 (2014). “It has no application in the

absence of ambiguity.” Id. As we have already explained,

though, we see no ambiguity in § 2255(e) when it comes to

Surratt’s sentence. Further, Surratt’s attacks read like back-

door constitutional challenges to § 2255 itself. But here

again, “[t]he canon of constitutional avoidance is not a method

of adjudicating constitutional questions by other means.”

52
United States v. Apel, 134 S. Ct. 1144, 1153 (2014). Nor does

avoidance grant a permission slip to “‘interpret’ statutes by

gerrymandering them with a list of exceptions that happen to

describe a party’s case,” id., which strikes us as just the sort

of thing that Surratt means us to do.

Ultimately, though, “if the statute does not raise

constitutional concerns, then there is no basis for employing

the canon of constitutional avoidance.” Rodriguez v. Robbins,

715 F.3d 1127, 1140 (9th Cir. 2013); accord United States v.

Dwinells, 508 F.3d 63, 70-71 (1st Cir. 2007); United States ex

rel. Long v. SCS Bus. & Tech. Instit., Inc., 173 F.3d 870, 886

(D.C. Cir. 1999). With no need for avoidance, we can rest

assured that we have given § 2255(e) the correct reading.

A.

We first conclude that our interpretation of § 2255(e)

presents no colorable issue under the Suspension Clause. That

provision of the Constitution states that “[t]he Privilege of

the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in

Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require

it.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2. The Suspension Clause

“ensures that, except during periods of formal suspension, the

Judiciary will have a time-tested device, the writ, to maintain

the delicate balance of governance that is itself the surest

safeguard of liberty.” Boumediene, 553 U.S. at 745.

53
 As the Government observes, the Suspension Clause may not

apply here at all. Neither the Supreme Court nor this Court has

decided whether the Suspension Clause protects the writ as it

existed in 1789 or the writ as it exists today. See Boumediene,

53 U.S. at 746 (reserving the issue); St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 300-

01 (same). Sitting en banc, we hinted that the Clause might

very well protect only the former and not the latter. See Vial,

115 F.3d at 1197 n.11. If that proves to be the case (that is,

if the Suspension Clause protects only the 1789 version), then

Surratt’s Suspension Clause argument fails. See Morales, 499

F.3d at 670; Lindh v. Murphy, 96 F.3d 856, 867 (7th Cir. 1996)

(en banc), rev’d on other grounds, 521 U.S. 320 (1997); United

States v. Anselmi, 207 F.2d 312, 314 (3d Cir. 1953). The

original 1789 form of the writ did not afford post-conviction

relief of the type sought here. See Ex Parte Yerger, 75 U.S. (8

Wall.) 85, 101 (1868); accord Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 533

(1953) (Jackson, J., concurring in result); LaGuerre v. Reno,

164 F.3d 1035, 1038 (7th Cir. 1998).

In the end, we need not settle the particular question of

whether the Suspension Clause protects the writ in its 18th or

21st Century form. Our reading of § 2255(e) sufficiently

respects the writ in either event. “[T]he substitution of a

collateral remedy which is neither inadequate nor ineffective to

test the legality of a person’s detention does not constitute a

54
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.” Swain, 430 U.S. at

381. Here, § 2255 itself serves as the relevant “substitute.”

And by holding that § 2255 presents an adequate and effective

substitute means to test Surratt’s detention, we have likewise

ensured that no Suspension Clause issue exists. See Hayman, 342

U.S. at 223 (refusing to consider any constitutional attack on

§ 2255 because the presence of the savings clause avoids those

issues); see also Medberry v. Crosby, 351 F.3d 1049, 1057 (11th

Cir. 2003) (“[Section 2255(e)] avoided any serious question

about whether the replacement of the writ of habeas corpus for a

federal prisoner with the new § 2255 caused an unconstitutional

suspension of the writ.”); Reyes-Requena, 243 F.3d at 901 n.19

(noting that § 2255(e) ameliorates any Suspension Clause

issues). As our preceding discussion should have made plain,

Surratt had a full opportunity under § 2255 to make the claim

that he makes here, but simply chose not to do so.

Perhaps Surratt means to attack our reading of § 2255(e)

together with other limits found in § 2255, such as § 2255(h)’s

limits on second or successive petitions. But that sort of

attack would fare no better. Stressing that “judgments about

the proper scope of the writ are normally for Congress to make,”

the Supreme Court has held that § 2254’s analogous restrictions

“do not amount to a ‘suspension’ of the writ.” Felker v.

Turpin, 518 U.S. 651, 664 (1996). “[R]estrictions on successive

55
petitions constitute a modified res judicata rule, a restraint

on what is called in habeas corpus practice ‘abuse of the

writ.’” Id. In short, restrictions on multiple motions for

post-conviction relief “amount[] to an entirely proper exercise

of Congress’ judgment regarding the proper scope of the writ.”

Vial, 115 F.3d at 1197. And “the reasoning of the [Supreme]

Court with respect to limitations on second and successive

habeas petitions pursuant to § 2254 applies with equal force to

the identical language in § 2255.” Id. at 1198; accord Gilbert,

640 F.3d at 1317; United States v. Barrett, 178 F.3d 34, 53 (1st

Cir. 1999); see also Justin F. Marceau, Challenging the Habeas

Process Rather Than the Result, 69 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 85, 144

n.207 (2012) (“[T]he Suspension Clause is much less directly

implicated by efforts to file multiple habeas petitions[.]”).

Nor does a Suspension Clause problem develop whenever a

prisoner is unable to take advantage of a later, favorable case.

“Congress can, without offending the Suspension Clause, . . .

narrow the source of law cognizable on habeas review.” Green v.

French, 143 F.3d 865, 876 (4th Cir. 1998), abrogated on other

grounds, Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 376-77 (2000). And

the narrowing here flows from an oft-made distinction in the law

“between actions previously taken and those yet to come.”

Armour v. City of Indianapolis, Ind., 132 S. Ct. 2073, 2082

(2012); cf. Solem v. Stumes, 465 U.S. 638, 642 (1984)

56
(“[R]etroactive application is not compelled, constitutionally

or otherwise.”); Wainwright v. Stone, 414 U.S. 21, 23-24 (1973)

(holding that state prisoner was not constitutionally entitled

to the benefit of a new interpretation of a state criminal

statute). Therefore, the Suspension Clause is not offended in

this case.

B.

The approach we take to the savings clause also does not

give rise to the sort of due process concerns identified in

Hicks v. Oklahoma, 447 U.S. 343 (1980). In Hicks, a state court

jury was erroneously required to impose a sentence of forty

years once they found the defendant guilty. Id. at 344-45. On

direct appeal, the state appellate court deemed the mandatory

prison term unconstitutional but declined to vacate the

sentence. Id. at 345. The Supreme Court determined that

decision to be a due process violation, as the state court’s

unwillingness to correct the error deprived Hicks of a state-

provided liberty interest in a jury determination. Id. at 346.

Given the somewhat unusual circumstances of the case, courts

have read it to provide “a rather narrow rule.” Simpson v.

Norris, 490 F.3d 1029, 1034 (8th Cir. 2007).

Several factors indicate that the due process concerns

addressed in Hicks do not arise here.

57
 First, Hicks involved sentencing by a jury; this case does

not. Courts aggressively protect the jury’s “historic role” as

“an intermediary between the State and criminal defendants.”

Alleyne, 133 S. Ct. at 2161; see also Blakely v. Washington, 542

U.S. 296, 306 (2004) (“Just as suffrage ensures the people’s

ultimate control in the legislative and executive branches, jury

trial is meant to ensure their control in the judiciary.”);

Jones, 526 U.S. at 244-48 (describing the historic development

of the jury as a check on overly severe sentences). The

Framers, too, chose to emphasize the importance of the jury by

separately enshrining its role in the Sixth Amendment. In other

words, we show a special solicitousness towards claims that a

mistake has tread upon the jury’s crucial role. Hicks reflects

that concept. It would not therefore apply in cases, like this

one, that do not implicate the jury right. Indeed, the Supreme

Court has narrowly read Hicks to hold “only that where state law

creates for the defendant a liberty interest in having the jury

make particular findings, the Due Process Clause implies that

appellate findings do not suffice to protect that entitlement.”

Cabana v. Bullock, 474 U.S. 376, 387 n.4 (1986) (emphasis

added), abrogated on other grounds by Pope v. Illinois, 481 U.S.

497, 503 n.7 (1987); accord People v. Gonzales, 296 P.3d 945,

967 (Cal. 2013) (“Hicks is limited to the jury trial

context[.]”).

58
 Hicks also involved two distinguishable types of

constitutional error. The Supreme Court intervened where a

lower court identified constitutional error at the time of

sentencing but refused to do anything about it. Thus, Hicks

presented problems at both sentencing and on appeal. The

separate, unrectified error at sentencing might have been what

compelled the Court to act. See Johnson v. Rosemeyer, 117 F.3d

104, 112 (3d Cir. 1997); see also Hicks, 447 U.S. at 350-51

(Rehnquist, J., dissenting) (concluding that the Court should

not have intervened because the defendant had not actually

established constitutional error at trial). Yet here, no one

suggests that Surratt’s sentence was unconstitutional, now or

then. There is no “separate” error. In fact, no one suggests

that his sentence was unlawful at the time that the district

court imposed it in any way.

But perhaps as importantly, Hicks concerned an error

identified on direct review. It is one thing to say that an

appellate court violates due process when it refuses to correct

an error in a non-final sentence. In that sort of case, the

appellate court’s unwillingness to act renders appellate review

a meaningless exercise. But it is quite another to say that due

process requires us to reach back and “correct” a sentence that

is in every sense final and was proper at the time imposed

because we now believe that the district court misconceived the

59
extent of its discretion. Cf. Dist. Atty’s Office for Third

Judicial Dist. v. Osborne, 557 U.S. 52, 68 (2009) (“A criminal

defendant proved guilty after a fair trial does not have the

same liberty interests as a free man.”). That result implies a

right to collateral review and relief that we do not believe

exists. See United States v. MacCollom, 426 U.S. 317, 323

(1976) (plurality opinion) (“The Due Process Clause of the Fifth

Amendment . . . certainly does not establish any right to

collaterally attack a final judgment of conviction.”); Herrera

v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 399 (1993); cf. Pennsylvania v.

Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 557 (1987). And, in prior cases, courts

have not assumed that due process mandates post-conviction

relief whenever the sentencing judge might have failed to

recognize the full scope of his discretion. See United States

v. Fox, 889 F.2d 357, 360 (1st Cir. 1989) (“[T]here is no due

process right to individualized sentencing.”). The enormous

body of cases refusing to award post-conviction relief premised

on Booker -- which held that district courts have discretion to

sentence outside the Sentencing Guidelines, see 543 U.S. at 245

-- provides perhaps the most compelling testimony to that fact.

See United States v. Morris, 429 F.3d 65, 72 (4th Cir. 2005)

(holding that Booker “is not available for post-conviction

relief for federal prisoners . . . whose convictions became

final before Booker . . . was decided”).

60
 Hicks, then, gives us no reason for pause, and we find

Surratt’s due process argument to be without merit.

C.

Our reading of the savings clause also does not give rise

to separation-of-powers concerns. Surratt contends that we

tread upon Congress’ right to define the relevant criminal

punishment by denying him habeas relief; the dissent agrees.

Yet neither Surratt nor the dissent provides us with a case in

which a court has identified a separation-of-powers problem in

connection with a sentence levied within the applicable

statutory range, as was Surratt’s sentence. “[A] person who has

been so convicted is eligible for, and the court may impose,

whatever punishment is authorized by statute for his offense.”

Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 465 (1991). Surratt

received that sentence.

If we were to embrace Surratt’s contrary position, we would

transform every alleged error related to statutory

interpretation into a separation-of-powers issue of

constitutional dimension. The writ would become a catchall for

perceived errors big and small. Such an outcome would be

plainly inconsistent with the remedy’s traditional scope.

“While the [habeas] remedy is in this comprehensive, it does not

encompass all claimed errors in conviction and sentencing.”

Addonizio, 442 U.S. at 185. All the more so when the district

61
court endeavored to comply with Congress’ wishes by applying a

then-correct understanding of Congressionally imposed mandatory

minimums. See United States v. Jackson, 863 F.2d 1168, 1171

(1989) (explaining Congress appropriately exercises its power to

fix penalties when it imposes mandatory minimums).

We must also remain aware of competing separation-of-powers

concerns: fundamental principles of separation of powers

preclude us from ignoring the plain terms of the savings clause.

In every case, “[t]he function of the judiciary is to apply the

law, not to rewrite it to conform with the policy positions of

litigants.” Mort Ranta v. Gorman, 721 F.3d 241, 253 (4th Cir.

2013). And we must act with a special sensitivity to that role

while grappling with post-conviction statutes, as they “reflect

a balancing of objectives (sometimes controversial), which is

normally for Congress to make[.]” Lonchar v. Thomas, 517 U.S.

314, 322 (1996). We find no benefit to trampling on Congress’

power to define the scope of the writ because of an unjustified

fear of violating separation-of-powers principles.

D.

Finally, no equal-protection problems result from our

decision. “The [Fourteenth Amendment’s] Equal Protection Clause

protects an individual from being treated differently, not

simply wrongly, by the government.” Sansotta v. Town of Nags

Head, 724 F.3d 533, 543 n.15 (4th Cir. 2013). Although that

62
particular clause does not apply directly to the federal

government, the “approach to Fifth Amendment equal protection

claims has always been precisely the same as to equal protection

claims under the Fourteenth[.]” Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420

U.S. 636, 638 n.2 (1975).

Surratt evidently thinks that an equal-protection problem

arises because some district courts in different Simmons-related

cases have granted § 2255 relief to some petitioners. But the

difference alone does not give rise to an equal-protection

issue. The Supreme Court has said “time and again that the

[Fifth and] Fourteenth Amendment[s] do[] not assure uniformity

of judicial decisions or immunity from judicial error.” Beck v.

Washington, 369 U.S. 541, 554-55 (1962). “A disagreement

between [the courts] on the interpretation of a statute is a

matter which either the Supreme Court or Congress should

resolve; it does not violate the equal protection rights of the

person subjected to the more burdensome interpretation.”

Hawkins v. Agric. Mktg. Serv., 10 F.3d 1125, 1131-32 (5th Cir.

1993). Besides that, “[b]oth the Fifth and the Fourteenth

Amendments address legislative discrimination and not

discrimination on the basis of particular opinions issued by the

federal judiciary.” United States v. Brown, 74 F. Supp. 2d 648,

651 (N.D.W. Va. 1998). So, Surratt has given us no reason to

believe that equal protection concepts even apply here.

63
 Surratt also observes that defendants have obtained relief

in cases in which “they had not previously filed a § 2255

motion.” Opening Br. 34. The difference in outcomes between

these two groups of defendants does not stem from our present

decision. In fact, this Court’s precedents suggest that the

“other” defendants should not obtain relief from their untimely

motions. See Whiteside, 775 F.3d at 187. The Government has

waived the otherwise applicable statute-of-limitations in some

of those cases, as it can do, and this intermittent waiver has

produced disparate outcomes in somewhat similar cases. But the

difference in treatment stems from the executive branch’s

actions, not those of the judicial branch. We do not mean to

imply that the Government’s actions create any equal protections

problems of their own -- in all likelihood, they do not. See

United States v. Venable, 666 F.3d 893, 900 (4th Cir. 2012)

(explaining that the government “ordinarily has wide latitude in

deciding whether to prosecute” as long as it does not “bas[e]

the decision on an unjustifiable standard such as race,

religion, or other arbitrary classification”). But we can

confidently conclude that our reading of § 2255(e) has nothing

to do with equal protection.

64
 VI.

For the reasons described above, we conclude that the

district court lacked jurisdiction under § 2255(e) to consider

Surratt’s § 2241 petition.

Congress holds the power to define the scope of the writ of

habeas corpus. It also holds an attendant power to define

exceptions to the normal rule of finality of convictions and

sentences that were lawfully imposed at the time that they were

entered. We are firmly convinced that Congress did not

contemplate any exception for a case like this one. Certainly,

Surratt’s mandatory minimum sentence was higher than the one he

would have faced after Simmons. But Surratt had the opportunity

to test the legality of that sentence in his direct appeal and

initial § 2255 motion, and he chose not to take it. He also is

not actually innocent of his offense of conviction, or even the

predicate offenses that dictated his enhanced sentence. And his

sentence does not exceed the statutory maximum that Congress set

for his offense of conviction.

We cannot alter Congress’ decision to deny jurisdiction.

Nor can we rewrite habeas law for the sake of a sympathetic

case. “[T]he guidance of the Supreme Court and Congress is

clear and, in this situation, ties our hands.” United States v.

Foote, 784 F.3d 931, 944 (4th Cir. 2015). And by the same

token, the Government’s support of the petitioner also cannot

65
change the words of the statute. See Young v. United States,

315 U.S. 257, 258-59 (1942) (“[A] confession [of error from the

Government] does not relieve this Court of the performance of

the judicial function. . . . [O]ur judicial obligations compel

us to examine independently the errors confessed.”).

Still, the hands of Congress and the executive branch are

not constrained in the same way as those of the judiciary.

Congress may amend § 2255 and permit us to hear cases like this

one, if it so chooses. And the Government, which initiated this

criminal prosecution and filed the information that led to

Surratt’s enhanced sentence, can assist Surratt in seeking a

commutation from the President. See U.S. Const. art. II, § 2,

cl. 1. Indeed, the President has shown a recent willingness to

grant frequent commutations in other drugs cases. See, e.g.,

Sari Horwitz and Juliet Eilperin, Obama Cuts Sentences of 46

Inmates, Wash. Post., July 14, 2015, at A03; Juliet Eilperin,

Obama Commutes Sentences of 22 Drug Offenders, Wash. Post, Mar.

31, 2015, at A01; Katie Zezima, Obama Commutes Prison Sentence

of Eight Federal Drug Offenders, Wash. Post, Dec. 18, 2014, at

A09; David Nakamura, Obama Commutes 8 ‘Unduly Harsh’ Terms,

Wash. Post, Dec. 20, 2013, at A02.

We also stress that our decision today is limited to the

particular facts of this case. We do not decide whether, for

instance, a federal prisoner might bring a § 2241 petition

66
claiming that the district court unlawfully sentenced him to a

term of imprisonment exceeding the statutory maximum. Nor do we

mean to say anything about the types of claims that prisoners

might bring in an initial § 2255 motion. And we do not

determine whether a change in law stemming from a retroactively

applicable Supreme Court decision might offer relief beyond the

circumstances already identified in Jones. Needless to say, we

therefore disagree with the dissent’s suggestion that our

limited determination renders the savings clause a “complete

nullity.” See Dissenting Op. at 68.

Given our disposition, we also need not decide whether an

appeal waiver like the one found in Surratt’s plea agreement

could foreclose relief via the savings clause, as the court-

appointed amicus alternatively argued. We leave those issues

for another day.

The district court’s judgment is therefore

AFFIRMED.

67
GREGORY, Circuit Judge, dissenting:

Raymond Surratt will die in prison because of a sentence

that the government and the district court agree is undeserved

and unjust. The district court sentenced Surratt to life in

prison only because it thought it was required to do so pursuant

to a statutory mandatory minimum. As it turns out, the correct

statutory range for Surratt’s crime was a minimum of twenty

years, and a maximum of life.

The majority thinks its hands are tied because Surratt

received “only” a life sentence, and not more than the statutory

maximum. But the only option beyond a life sentence is death.

By foreclosing any avenue for post-conviction relief, the

majority essentially punishes Surratt for not having received

the death penalty. It leaves him to spend the rest of his life

in prison; a death sentence of a different kind. In doing so,

the majority renders the savings clause a complete nullity in

violation of the Suspension Clause.

It is not just a sentence above the statutory maximum that

presents a fundamental defect. Life is not always so neat.

When a punishment involves a complete deprivation of liberty,

then even a sentence exactly at, but not exceeding, the

statutory maximum can constitute an extraordinary miscarriage of

justice of constitutional magnitude. In such cases, we must

allow a prisoner to invoke the savings clause if the Great Writ,

68
which has always been “a bulwark against convictions that

violate ‘fundamental fairness,’” Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107,

126 (1982), is to mean anything at all. I dissent.

I.

Surratt was 31 years old when he pleaded guilty to

conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The Guidelines recommended a

maximum penalty of 19.6 years, yet the court imposed a life

sentence. It did so while stating that it believed a life

sentence to be undeserved and unjust. J.A. 276. As the

district court also remarked, it thought it had no other option

pursuant to the statutory, mandatory-minimum lifetime term

prescribed by the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) for anyone

with two or more predicate felony drug offenses. See J.A. 276;

21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A).

A few years after Surratt’s first § 2255 motion, in a case

remanded to us from the Supreme Court, we corrected our mistaken

understanding of just what constitutes a qualifying felony for

federal sentencing purposes in United States v. Simmons, 649

F.3d 237 (4th Cir. 2011) (en banc). Both parties agree that

under our retroactively-applicable Simmons decision, see Miller

v. United States, 735 F.3d 141, 147 (4th Cir. 2013), Surratt

possesses only one CSA predicate felony. The statutory

mandatory minimum for someone with one qualifying offense is not

69
a life term, but twenty years. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). Life

is actually the statutory maximum. Id. § 841(b)(1)(A).

Given the difference between twenty years and life, Surratt

asks to be resentenced. Remarkably, the government agrees with

Surratt. Both parties agree that Surratt is legally ineligible

to spend the rest of his life in prison. Given this mistake

that the parties agree is of constitutional magnitude, the

parties further agree that Surratt is entitled to relief from

the very sentence that the district court unambiguously stated

it would not have imposed absent the erroneous statutory

mandatory minimum. They agree the mechanism to do so is by

§ 2241 motion via the savings clause of § 2255(e).

II.

“The Framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a

fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of

habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom.”

Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723, 739 (2008). Accordingly, the

prohibition on suspension of the writ is contained in the very

blueprint of our nation, the Constitution itself. U.S. Const.

art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus has remained

central to our justice system even as the statutory scheme

codifying the writ has undergone several transformations over

70
the years. Boumediene, 553 U.S. at 740 (explaining that our

Framers recognized a necessity to “secure the writ and ensure

its place in our legal system”). Even when Congress added

§ 2255 to the post-conviction relief statutes in 1948, it did so

in an effort to improve administration of habeas corpus

hearings. United States v. Hayman, 342 U.S. 205, 219 (1952).

The impetus for § 2255 was that federal courts located near

prisons had become overwhelmed by petitions from prisoners who,

until that point, were required by § 2241 to apply for writs in

the district of their confinement. See Hayman, 342 U.S. at 213-

15. In this way, § 2255 “replaced traditional habeas corpus for

federal prisoners . . . with a process that allowed the prisoner

to file a motion with the sentencing court.” Boumediene, 553

U.S. at 774. It was also these 1948 amendments that gave birth

to the so-called “savings clause” found in § 2255(e). See

Wofford v. Scott, 177 F.3d 1236, 1239, 1241 (11th Cir. 1999).

The savings clause preserves resort to § 2241 when § 2255 is

“inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of [a

prisoner’s] detention.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e).

The Supreme Court has been explicit that § 2255 was never

meant to supplant § 2241, but was simply crafted to address the

practical concerns of habeas administration. “Nowhere in the

history of Section 2255,” determined the Court, “do we find any

purpose to impinge upon prisoners’ rights of collateral attack

71
upon their convictions.” See Hayman, 342 U.S. at 219. This

remains true even following Congress’s 1996 amendments to the

statute, which created limitations on second or successive

petitions in § 2255(h). The savings clause, which Congress

chose to retain even while creating these so-called “gatekeeping

provisions,” continues to play a crucial role within this

scheme. As the Supreme Court recognizes, the savings clause

ensures that subsequently-enacted limitations in § 2255 do not

run afoul of the Suspension Clause. See Boumediene, 553 U.S. at

776.

History therefore confirms that Congress meant for the writ

of habeas corpus to remain unabridged even in the face of some

limits on collateral review found in § 2255, and that the

savings clause plays a distinct and crucial role within the

statute. And of course we cannot forget that, ultimately, the

writ of habeas corpus is an equitable remedy. See Gomez v. U.S.

District Court, 503 U.S. 653, 653-54 (1992); Duckworth v. Eagan,

492 U.S. 195, 213 (1989) (“[T]he Court has long recognized that

habeas corpus has been traditionally regarded as governed by

equitable principles[.]” (internal quotation marks omitted)).

These are the principles, including the “principles of

fundamental fairness underl[ying] the writ,” that should guide

our resolution of this case. Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U.S. 333,

351 (1992) (Blackmun, J., concurring).

72
 III.

The majority’s interpretation of the savings clause amounts

to a suspension of the writ. The majority denies Surratt any

chance to challenge an erroneous life sentence – a fundamental

defect of constitutional proportions – for two reasons. First,

because he is challenging his sentence rather than the

underlying conviction, and second, because his sentence is at,

but does not exceed, the statutory maximum. The result is that

without any textual basis, the majority is punishing Surratt for

not having received the death penalty. What a perverse result,

to have suffered a fundamental sentencing defect, and then to be

punished for not having received the death penalty.

The savings clause extends to more than just attacks on the

underlying conviction. See Maj. Op. at 13 (relying on the fact

that “Surratt is not innocent of anything”). In fact, there is

no textual indication that § 2255(e) precludes a challenge to an

erroneous life sentence. When evaluating the plain language of

the statute, “Congress’s use of the term ‘detention’ is highly

significant to the scope of the savings clause.” Bryant v.

Warden, FCC Coleman-Medium, 738 F.3d 1253, 1281 (11th Cir.

2013). Congress declined to use the terms, “offense” or

“conviction,” both of which it wrote into subsequent provisions

of § 2255. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f)(1); id. § 2255(h)(1).

Instead, its choice of words suggests it meant to broadly

73
preserve the types of challenges available under § 2255(e),

consistent with § 2241. If, as the majority says, “we are

obligated to give effect to Congress’s decision to use different

language in proximate subsection of the same statute,” then this

obligation actually favors Surratt. See Maj. Op. at 36 (quoting

United States v. Brandon, 247 F.3d 186, 190 (4th Cir. 2001)).

This reading is consistent with our own case law. We have

already determined that nothing in § 2255 was “intended to limit

the rights of federal prisoners to collaterally attack their

convictions and sentences.” In re Jones, 226 F.3d 328, 332 (4th

Cir. 2000) (emphasis added). Other circuits agree that “[t]he

use of the term ‘detention’ in the savings clause suggests that

Congress intended for at least some species of sentencing claims

(other than actual-innocence claims) to justify savings-clause

relief.” Bryant, 738 F.3d at 1282; see also Brown v. Caraway,

719 F.3d 583, 588 (7th Cir. 2013) (explaining that “the text of

the [savings] clause . . . does not limit its scope to testing

the legality of the underlying criminal conviction”).

The majority nevertheless does not think Surratt raises a

sentencing challenge that should be cognizable under the savings

clause. See Maj. Op. at 33 (“[Surratt] never suggests that he

received a sentence above the applicable statutory maximum.”).

This is a breathtaking position considering the extraordinary

deprivation of liberty at stake. Surratt raises no “ordinary”

74
sentencing error. He seeks to advance a claim that he does not

possess the requisite number of qualifying felony offenses on

which his current life sentence is predicated. A life sentence,

for which there is no longer any possibility of parole, is the

“penultimate” sentence unlike any other except for death. Solem

v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 303 (1983), overruled on other grounds by

Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991). And although second

only to death, the two “share some characteristics . . . that

are shared by no other sentences.” Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S.

48, 69 (2010). A life sentence “deprives the convict of the

most basic liberties without giving hope of restoration, except

perhaps by executive clemency - the remote possibility of which

does not mitigate the harshness of the sentence.” Id. at 69-70.

It also “means denial of hope; it means that good behavior and

character improvement are immaterial; it means that whatever the

future might hold in store for the mind and spirit of [the

convict], he will remain in prison for the rest of his days.”

Id. at 70 (alteration in original). That Surratt is being

erroneously deprived of his liberty for the rest of his life is

therefore a fundamental sentencing defect.

There are also fundamental due process concerns raised

where, like here, a district court imposes a life sentence at

statutory gunpoint. An erroneous mandatory-minimum life

sentence is by itself a fundamental defect. See Almendarez-

75
Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 245 (1998) (recognizing

that mandatory minimums can lead to “a minimum sentence of

imprisonment more than twice as severe as the maximum the trial

judge would otherwise have imposed.”). When operating under a

wrongful statutory mandatory minimum, a district court is

completely foreclosed from imposing a more lenient sentence.

See United States v. Newbold, --- F.3d ---, No. 10-6929, 2015 WL

3960906, at *7 n.6. (4th Cir. June 30, 2015) (finding an

“erroneously-imposed sentencing floor . . . problematic on its

own” because “it create[s] the mistaken impression that the

district court ha[s] no discretion to vary downward from the low

end of [the Guidelines] range”). A defendant, however, always

has a “substantial and legitimate expectation” under the

Fourteenth Amendment to “be deprived of his liberty only to the

extent determined by the [trier of fact] in the exercise of its

statutory discretion.” Hicks v. Oklahoma, 447 U.S. 343, 346

(1980). In this case, we know with 100% certainty that the

district court considered a life sentence both the floor and the

ceiling of what it could impose. “I was required to impose a

life sentence,” stated the court, “[a]nd I’ll not forget the

frustration I felt in doing that because I did think it was an

unjust sentence[.]” J.A. 276.

Continuing to punish Surratt with life imprisonment given

that the district court was completely deprived of any statutory

76
discretion whatsoever at sentencing also raises a separate,

separation of powers concern. Pursuant to the very design of

our government, “defining crimes and fixing penalties are

legislative, not judicial, functions.” United States v. Evans,

333 U.S. 483, 486 (1948). “Congress has the power to define

criminal punishments without giving the courts any sentencing

discretion,” or to provide for individualized sentencing.

Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 467 (1991). For someone

like Surratt, with only one qualifying felony drug offense,

Congress intended to permit a district court to assign a

sentence somewhere in the range of twenty years to life. It did

not mandate only a life sentence.

Rather than avoiding a statutory construction that “raises

a multitude of constitutional problems,” Clark v. Martinez, 543

U.S. 371, 380-81 (2005), the majority reads § 2255 to foreclose

any avenue for relief from a fundamental sentencing defect.

This is precisely “the failure to allow for collateral review”

that “raise[s] serious constitutional questions.” Triestman v.

United States, 124 F.3d 361, 377 (2d Cir. 1997).

IV.

The majority arrives at this constitutionally-suspect

outcome by departing from the traditional savings clause

analysis. It ignores that our precedent has already established

77
a framework for determining whether § 2255 is “inadequate or

ineffective.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e). As we have demonstrated in

Jones, a savings clause inquiry involves a procedural and

substantive component. 226 F.3d at 333-34. Yet the majority

seeks to paint our Jones decision as something sui generis.

Jones is not an alternative “portal” or “route” to savings

clause relief. See Maj. Op. at 19. It is the test adopted by

our Circuit. When applying that test, it is clear that Surratt

satisfies the necessary requirements, both procedural and

substantive.

Procedurally, § 2255 is “inadequate or ineffective” when

the retroactively-applicable change in the law that the prisoner

seeks to take advantage of occurs subsequent to his first § 2255

motion. This was exactly the case in Jones. Although involving

a different fundamental defect – being actually innocent of

“using” a firearm within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) –

we should follow here the same procedural inquiry. See Jones,

226 F.3d at 329. “[S]ubsequent to the prisoner’s direct appeal

and first § 2255 motion,” did “the substantive law change[]”

such that the prisoner’s claim is no longer foreclosed by the

“settled law of this circuit or the Supreme Court?” Id. at 333-

34.

Surratt brings his savings clause challenge in precisely

this posture. The majority protests, however, that Surratt

78
should have brought a § 2255 motion raising his Simmons claim

even before Simmons existed. To say that the savings clause

preserves an “opportunity” to be heard but that Surratt somehow

squandered his even before we decided Simmons is to interpret

“opportunity” in a literal manner devoid of any meaning. See

Boumediene, 553 U.S. at 779 (“[T]he privilege of habeas corpus

entitles the prisoner to a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate

that he is being held pursuant to the erroneous application or

interpretation of relevant law.” (emphasis added) (internal

quotation marks omitted)). We did not fault Jones for not

previously raising his Bailey claim even before that case was

decided. Instead, the savings clause was crucially important

because “the prisoner’s first § 2255 motion was filed prior to

the decision in Bailey, at a time when it would have been futile

to challenge the then-prevailing interpretation of the ‘use’

prong of § 924(c)(1).” Jones, 226 F.3d at 333. The Seventh and

Eleventh Circuits further agree that § 2255 is procedurally

inadequate when the intervening change in the law takes place

after the petitioner’s previously foreclosed, first § 2255

motion. See Brown, 719 F.3d at 586 (“[T]he prisoner must show

that he relies on a retroactive decision that he could not have

invoked in his first § 2255 motion.”); In re Davenport, 147 F.3d

605, 610 (7th Cir. 1998) (“[The prisoner] could not use a first

79
motion under the section to obtain relief on a basis not yet

established by law.”); Bryant, 738 F.3d at 1257.

In addition to this procedural component, § 2255 is

substantively inadequate or ineffective when the asserted error

represents a fundamental defect, but “the prisoner cannot

satisfy the gatekeeping provisions of § 2255 because [he relies

on a] new rule [that] is not one of constitutional law.” Jones,

226 F.3d at 334. This requirement is necessary in consideration

of § 2255(h), which limits second and successive petitions, in

pertinent part, to those relying on a new rule of constitutional

law. 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h)(2). The difficulty in Jones was that

the intervening change in the law involved a rule of statutory

interpretation. Despite the important role played by § 2255(h),

we nevertheless determined that the savings clause must in this

situation afford an opportunity to raise a previously futile,

retroactively-applicable statutory claim, because “otherwise,

the savings clause itself would be meaningless.” Jones, 226

F.3d at 333. Other circuits have agreed with this substantive

component of the savings clause inquiry in the context of

erroneous sentencing enhancements resulting from interpretation

of the Armed Career Criminal Act. See Light v. Caraway, 761

80
F.3d 809, 813 (7th Cir. 2014) (Begay 1 claim challenging ACCA

enhancement), cert denied, 2015 WL 133008 (Jan. 12, 2015);

Bryant, 738 F.3d at 1257 (same).

Surratt therefore satisfies our savings clause test because

his claim raises a fundamental defect predicated on an

intervening change in the law of statutory interpretation. The

majority, however, disagrees with this conclusion in part

because it believes I am “read[ing] the actual innocence

requirement out of Jones.” Maj. Op. 12. To the contrary, I am

applying the framework set forth in that case, which considered

whether an actual innocence claim is redressable under the

savings clause, to our case, which asks whether an erroneously-

imposed, statutory, mandatory-minimum life sentence can be

redressable under the same provision. Jones admittedly involved

a different fundamental defect - a claim under Bailey. But this

does not mean that its reasoning cannot extend to Surratt’s

claim, which is equally a fundamental defect considering the

extraordinary deprivation of liberty at stake. Interpreting

Jones in this way would not lead to “permit[ing] any federal

1
In Begay v. United States, 553 U.S. 137 (2008), the
Supreme Court determined that driving under the influence of
alcohol did not constitute a “violent felony” as defined by the
residual clause of the ACCA. Id. at 139. The Court has
subsequently found the statute’s residual clause to be
unconstitutionally vague. Johnson v. United States, 576
U.S. ---, No. 13-7120, 2015 WL 2473450, at *4 (June 26, 2015).

81
prisoner to bring any non-constitutional claim via § 2241 in any

instance where the law” changes. Maj. Op. at 13. Far from

opening the floodgates, as the majority suggests, such an

approach may provide relief to those who continue to serve life

sentences despite not possessing the requisite number of

predicate felony offenses under Simmons, which is all of eight

prisoners in the Western District of North Carolina. 2 See Def.

Br. at 31.

The majority lastly finds it insufficient that Surratt’s

fundamental sentencing defect finds its roots in Simmons, an en

banc circuit court decision decided upon remand from the Supreme

Court, rather than in a Supreme Court decision itself. Of

course the savings clause itself does not make this distinction.

Nor have we ever insisted, in a world where the Supreme Court

grants certiorari in about 75-80 cases per year, that the new

rule of statutory interpretation be one decreed by the Supreme

Court. See Jones, 226 F.3d at 334 (requiring that “subsequent

to the prisoner’s direct appeal and first § 2255 motion, the

substantive law changed” (emphasis added)). Nonetheless, the

majority writes that “Surratt premises his claim on a circuit-

level decision, even though § 2255(h) specifically states that

2 I must also note that, when it comes to the “tangible
benefits” of our decision today, Maj. Op. at 51, it is estimated
that Surratt’s lifetime of incarceration will cost taxpayers
approximately $1.2 million. See Def. Br. at 32.

82
only a retroactive Supreme Court decision should open the door

to successive relief.” Maj. Op. at 43. In actuality,

§ 2255(h) states that application for successive relief must be

based on “a new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to

cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court.” 28 U.S.C.

§ 2255(h)(2) (emphasis added). At least one circuit court,

however, has found it appropriate to grant relief based on its

own finding that Begay, a new rule of statutory interpretation,

is retroactive. See Light, 761 F.3d at 814; Welch v. United

States, 604 F.3d 408, 415 (7th Cir. 2010).

My point is that the majority’s greatest sin is really in

picking and choosing whatever rules it wishes to apply to

§ 2255(e) from other parts of our habeas jurisprudence. It

insists that the first part of § 2255(h)(2) applies to the

savings clause, but not the second part. It then says the “same

principle” of procedural default applies not just to

§ 2255(f)(2), but also here. See Maj. Op. at 25. This despite

its insistence that there is no basis to “tie[] th[e]

‘miscarriage’ standard” from initial § 2255 motions to the

supposedly “entirely separate question of relief via the savings

clause.” Maj. Op. at 20. The majority is really mixing and

matching limitations on post-conviction relief.

In disregarding our precedent to affirm a life sentence for

Surratt, the majority simultaneously affirms a death sentence

83
for the savings clause. But make no mistake. There already

exists an analytical path obligating us to grant Surratt the

resentencing that he seeks, and that justice requires.

V.

I do not doubt that the majority is sympathetic to Surratt.

In the end, I suppose we just have fundamentally different views

on the role of habeas corpus, as well as the role of the

judiciary in granting the writ. I see it as our solemn

responsibility to guard against a morbid encroachment upon that

which is so precious our Framers ensured its continued vitality

in our Constitution. Instead we guard the Great Writ itself,

and so closely that Surratt must spend the rest of his life in

prison – against the will of the government and the district

court. Our abdication of this responsibility begs the question:

quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Who will guard the guards

themselves?

It is within our power to do more than simply leave Surratt

to the mercy of the executive branch. To hope for the right

outcome in another’s hands perhaps is noble. But only when we

actually do the right thing can we be just. I lament that today

we are not the latter. Neither the plain language of our habeas

statutes, our precedent, nor the Constitution demands that

Surratt die in prison. I must dissent.

84