UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN 

SOUTHERN DIVISION 

STEVEN A. JOHNSON, 

 Petitioner, 

 CASE NO. 15-10889 

v. 

 PAUL D. BORMAN 

WARDEN, UNITED STATES UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

PENITENTIARY, ATWATER, 

 Respondent. 

______________________________/ 

ORDER DENYING PETITIONER’S LETTER REQUESTS (ECF NOS. 10-12)

 On March 9, 2015, this matter came before the Court on petitioner Steven A. 

Johnson’s pro se habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Petitioner is a federal 

inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Atwater, California, but his habeas petition 

appeared to challenge a federal conviction and sentence obtained in this District. On 

April 21, 2015, the Court summarily dismissed the petition because the Court had no 

jurisdiction over the respondent and because Petitioner failed to show that a motion to 

vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 was an inadequate or 

ineffective remedy for challenging his sentence. 

 Currently pending before the Court are three letters that Petitioner has written to 

the Court. In his first letter (ECF No. 10, filed on April 21, 2015), Petitioner states that 

he is filing a § 2241 motion in California regarding the conditions of his confinement. 

2:15-cv-10889-PDB-RSW Doc # 13 Filed 08/24/15 Pg 1 of 3 Pg ID 40
2 

He asks the Court to coordinate this case with his case in California and to appoint 

counsel for him. 

 In his second letter (ECF No. 11, filed on April 28, 2015), Petitioner states that he 

filed another habeas corpus petition, which was assigned to a different judge in this 

district and dismissed as duplicative. Petitioner indicates in his letter that he wants to 

substitute the United States as the respondent, and he asks the Court once again to 

coordinate this case with his California case. 

 In his third letter (ECF No. 12, filed on June 22, 2015), Petitioner states that he 

filed two habeas corpus petitions by mistake. He seeks to have the Court transfer his case 

in the interest of justice. 

 This case is closed. Consequently, Petitioner’s requests for appointment of 

counsel, to substitute the United States as the respondent, to transfer this case elsewhere, 

and to coordinate the disposition of this case with another court are denied as moot. The 

Court notes, moreover, that there is no constitutional right to appointment of counsel in a 

habeas case, Post v. Bradshaw, 422 F.3d 419, 425 (6th Cir. 2005), and that the proper 

respondent in a habeas case brought under § 2241 is not the United States, but the warden 

of the facility where the prisoner is being held, Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426, 435 

(2004). Accordingly, Petitioner’s letter requests (ECF Nos. 10-12) are denied. 

 s/Paul D. Borman 

 PAUL D. BORMAN 

 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

Dated: August 24, 2015 

2:15-cv-10889-PDB-RSW Doc # 13 Filed 08/24/15 Pg 2 of 3 Pg ID 41
3 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing order was served upon each 

attorney or party of record herein by electronic means or first class U.S. mail on August 

24, 2015. 

 s/Deborah Tofil 

 Deborah Tofil 

 Case Manager (313) 234-5122 

2:15-cv-10889-PDB-RSW Doc # 13 Filed 08/24/15 Pg 3 of 3 Pg ID 42