Challenge to Sentence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: John W. Dawkins v. United States of America

Case No.: 16-2683

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Challenge to Sentence

Application for sentence amendment denied.

“Dawkins argues in his reply that Mathis provides an independent basis for authorization. He cites Alexander v. United States, 121 F.3d 312 (7th Cir. 1997), for the proposition that any intervening change in the law would allow a successive application. This proposition clearly is not true, and Alexander does not say otherwise; only new rules of constitutional law, made retroactive by the Supreme Court, can provide a basis for authorization. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2255(h)(2), 2244(b)(2)(A); Alexander, 121 F.3d at 314–15 (denying application because applicant did “not point to any new rule made retroactive by the Supreme Court and [did] not have new evidence showing his innocence”). Mathis did not announce such a rule; it is a case of statutory interpretation. An independent claim based on Mathis must be brought, if at all, in a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. See Brown v. Caraway, 719 F.3d 583, 594–96 (7th Cir. 2013); In re Davenport, 147 F.3d 605, 611–12 (7th Cir. 1998). We note that any § 2241 petition would need to be filed in the district where the petitioner is in custody. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a); FED. R. APP. P. 22(a). “

Application Denied

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