Vargas v. Borla

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California summarily dismissed Ernesto Vargas’s successive habeas petition under the gatekeeper provision of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). The court held that Vargas had not obtained authorization from the Ninth Circuit to file a second or successive petition challenging the same state-court judgment. The court denied his renewed motion to proceed in forma pauperis as moot and declined to issue a certificate of appealability.

Holdings

1. A district court lacks jurisdiction to consider a second or successive habeas petition challenging the same custody imposed by the same state-court judgment unless the petitioner first obtains authorization from the appropriate court of appeals under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A). Because Vargas had not obtained Ninth Circuit authorization, the court dismissed the petition without prejudice.
2. The renewed motion to proceed in forma pauperis was denied as moot because the habeas petition was dismissed.
3. A certificate of appealability should not issue because reasonable jurists would not debate the correctness of dismissing the unauthorized successive petition.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court could consider Vargas's § 2254 petition challenging the same state-court judgment previously challenged in a federal habeas petition without prior authorization from the Ninth Circuit under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3)(A).
2. Whether the renewed motion to proceed in forma pauperis should be denied as moot after dismissal of the petition.
3. Whether a certificate of appealability should issue for the procedural dismissal.