**UN PUBLISHED** 
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

**No. 15**  **- 6015** 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , Plaintiff

- Appellee ,
v. RICHARD ALLEN SMITH, JR., a/k/a Smitty , Defendant

- Appellant
.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia , at Elkins
. Frederick P. Stamp, Jr
. , Senior District Judge. ( 2:00

- cr - 00007

- FPS

- JES

- 1 )

Submitted : April 16, 2015 Decided: April 21, 2015

Before AGEE and KEENAN , Circuit Judges , and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.
Affirmed in part and dismissed in part by un published per curiam opinion
.
Richard Allen Smith, Jr. , Appellant Pro Se. Paul Thomas Camilletti, Assistant United States Attorney , Martinsburg, West Vi rginia ; Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr. , John Castle Parr, Assistant United States Attorney s, Wheeling, West Virginia ; Stephen Donald Warner , Assistant U nited S tates Attorney , Elkins, West Virginia , for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding preceden t in this circuit.2 PER CURIAM: Richard Allen Smith, Jr., appeal s the district court’s order denying his motions for a mandatory evidentiary hearing, to strike the Government’s consolidated response to his motions, for a release order, and for a certificate of release , and construing his motions for summary judgment and to review his sentence as successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 ( 2012) motions and dismissing them as unauthorized
. W e confine our review to the issues raised in the Appellant’s brief. See 4th Cir. R. 34(b). Smith does not challenge in his informal brief the basis for the district court’s denial of his motions for a mandatory evidentiary hearing, to strike the Government’s consolidated response to his motions, for a release order, and for a certificate of release . Thus, he has forfeited appellate review of the court’s disposition of those motions, and we affirm that portion of the court’s order. To the extent that Smith seeks to appeal the district court’s order construing his motions for review of sentence and for summary judgment as successive and unauthorized § 2255 motions, t he order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C.
§ 2253(c)(1) (B) (2012) . A certificate of appealabil ity will not issue absent “a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) (2012)
. When the3 district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists wou ld find that the district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims is debatable or wrong. Slack v. McDaniel , 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); see Miller

- El v. Cockrell , 537 U.S. 322, 336

- 38 (2003). When the district court denies relief on procedural
grou nds, the prisoner must demonstrate both that the dispositive procedural ruling is debatable, and that the motion states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack , 529 U.S. at 484

- 85. We have independently reviewed the record and c onclude that Smith has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before th i s court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED IN PART; DISMISSED IN PART