Strange v. Secretary, Department of Corrections

Summary

The magistrate judge recommends denying Steve Strange’s motion for relief from judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) and dismissing the matter for lack of jurisdiction. The recommendation concludes that the motion constitutes an unauthorized successive 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas petition because it attacks a prior merits determination and raises a new substantive claim, and that the motion to supplement the record should be denied as moot.

Holdings

1. A Rule 60(b) motion constitutes a successive § 2254 habeas petition when it raises a new substantive ground for relief or attacks the habeas court's prior merits resolution of a claim.
2. A district court lacks jurisdiction to consider a successive § 2254 petition filed without authorization from the appropriate court of appeals.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Strange's Rule 60(b)(6) motion was an impermissible successive § 2254 habeas petition because it attacked the prior merits resolution of a claim and asserted a new substantive ground for relief.
2. Whether the district court had jurisdiction to consider the motion without authorization from the Eleventh Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A).
3. Whether the motion to supplement the record should be denied as moot.

Disposition

dismissed