Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_18-cv-07625/USCOURTS-cand-3_18-cv-07625-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2241 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

---

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

NATHANIAL BLAINE,

Petitioner,

v.

I. JACQUEZ,

Respondent.

Case No. 18-cv-07625-SI 

ORDER OF DISMISSAL

Nathanial Blaine, currently an inmate in the Multnomah County Detention Center in 

Portland, Oregon, filed this action under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 to challenge his extradition to Oregon 

from California. He alleges that he was arrested in Berkeley, California on June 29, 2018, by a 

member of the Washington, D.C., Capital Police for making an interstate threat by email, and was 

extradited to Oregon a month later pursuant to an order from a federal magistrate judge in Oakland, 

California. Blaine alleges in his petition that his extradition was improper for several different 

reasons. 

This case has problems with mootness and jurisdiction. First, once a petitioner’s extradition 

has occurred, his challenge to the extradition becomes moot. See Frisbie v. Collins, 342 U.S. 519,

522 (1952) (“This Court has never departed from the rule announced in Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 

436, 444, that the power of a court to try a person for crime is not impaired by the fact that he had 

been brought within the court's jurisdiction by reason of a ‘forcible abduction’”); Hunt v. Eyman, 

405 F.2d 384 (9th Cir. 1969) (even if appellant was illegally brought from California to Arizona via 

extradition, that would not entitle him to the writ). Because Blaine was extradited in or about July 

2018, he can no longer challenge the lawfulness of his detention based on alleged defects in the 

extradition. The action has become moot.

Case 3:18-cv-07625-SI Document 16 Filed 04/29/19 Page 1 of 2
2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

United States District Court

Northern District of California

Second, this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain a habeas petition from Blaine 

because he is no longer in this district. Section 2241 allows “the Supreme Court, any justice thereof, 

the district courts and any circuit judge” to grant writs of habeas corpus “within their respective 

jurisdictions.” 28 U.S.C. § 2241(a). In cases challenging present physical custody, jurisdiction lies 

only in that district in which the custodian may be found, i.e., the district in which the petitioner is 

in custody. See Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 440-42 (2004); id. at 443 (“[F]or core habeas 

petitions challenging present physical confinement, jurisdiction lies in only one district: the district 

of confinement.”). Where a petitioner is incarcerated in one state and files a § 2241 petition in a 

federal district court in another state, therefore, the federal district court lacks jurisdiction over the 

petitioner’s custodian and must transfer or dismiss the petition. See, e.g., Hassain v. Johnson, 790 

F.2d 1420, 1420 (9th Cir. 1986) (no jurisdiction in California to address petition where inmate 

incarcerated in Arizona). The court chooses to dismiss this action, rather than to transfer it to 

Oregon, because the lack of jurisdiction is accompanied by the mootness problem mentioned in the 

preceding paragraph. Judicial economy is not promoted by transferring an action that would have 

to be dismissed as moot by the transferee court.

For the foregoing reasons, this action is DISMISSED because it is moot and because the 

court lacks jurisdiction over it. The clerk shall close the file.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 29, 2019

______________________________________

SUSAN ILLSTON

United States District Judge

Case 3:18-cv-07625-SI Document 16 Filed 04/29/19 Page 2 of 2