Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 289

524US1

Unit: $U85

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244

HOHN v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

judge.
If such a request is addressed to the court of
it shall be deemed addressed to the judges
appeals,
thereof and shall be considered by a circuit judge or
judges as the court deems appropriate.
If no express
request for a certiﬁcate is ﬁled, the notice of appeal shall
be deemed to constitute a request addressed to the
judges of the court of appeals.”

On its face, the Rule applies only to state, and not federal,
It is nonetheless instructive on the proper con-
prisoners.
struction of § 2253(c).

Rule 22(b) by no means prohibits application to an individ-
ual judge, nor could it, given the language of the statute.
There would be incongruity, nevertheless, were the same
ruling deemed in one instance the order of a judge acting
ex curia and in a second the action of the court, depending
upon the caption of the application or the style of the order.
Our conclusion is further conﬁrmed by Federal Rule of

Appellate Procedure 27(c).

It states:

“In addition to the authority expressly conferred by
these rules or by law, a single judge of a court of appeals
may entertain and may grant or deny any request for
relief which under these rules may properly be sought
by motion, except that a single judge may not dismiss
or otherwise determine an appeal or other proceeding,
and except that a court of appeals may provide by order
or rule that any motion or class of motions must be acted
upon by the court. The action of a single judge may be
reviewed by the court.”

As the Rule makes clear, even when individual judges are
authorized under the Rules to entertain certain requests for
relief, the court may review their decisions. The Eighth
Circuit’s Rules are even more explicit, speciﬁcally listing
grants of certiﬁcates of probable cause by an individual judge
as one of the decisions subject to revision by the court under
Federal Rule 27(c). Rule 27B(b)(2) (CA8 1998). The recog-