Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/286/
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 10:27:28+00:00

Document:
1. Federal courts upon an appropriate showing must grant evidentiary hearings to petitioners for writs of habeas corpus and "the power of inquiry on federal habeas corpus is plenary." Townsend v. Sain, 372 U. S. 293, 372 U. S. 312 (1963). Pp. 394 U. S. 290-292.
2. The intended scope of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the history of habeas corpus procedure make it clear that Rule 81(a)(2) excludes the application of Rule 33 in habeas corpus proceedings. Pp. 394 U. S. 292-298.
3. Section 2246 of 28 U.S.C. does not authorize interrogatories in habeas corpus proceedings except in limited circumstances not applicable to this case. Pp. 394 U. S. 290, 394 U. S. 296.
4. A district court considering a petition for habeas corpus is free to use or authorize interrogatories or other suitable discovery procedures reasonably fashioned to elicit facts to help the court "dispose of the matter as law and justice require." 28 U.S.C. § 2243. Pp. 394 U. S. 290, 394 U. S. 298-300.
5. Since Congress has not specified comprehensive procedures for securing the facts which federal courts must have to dispose of habeas corpus petitions, the court may fashion appropriate procedures for development of relevant facts, by analogy to existing rules or judicial usages. Their authority to do so is confirmed by the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651. Pp. 394 U. S. 298-300.
certiorari. 392 U. S. 925. We agree with the Ninth Circuit that Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is not applicable to habeas corpus proceedings, and that 28 U.S.C. § 2246 does not authorize interrogatories except in limited circumstances not applicable to this case; but we conclude that, in appropriate circumstances, a district court, confronted by a petition for habeas corpus which establishes a prima facie case for relief, may use or authorize the use of suitable discovery procedures, including interrogatories, reasonably fashioned to elicit facts necessary to help the court to "dispose of the matter as law and justice require." 28 U.S.C. § 2243. Accordingly, we reverse and remand the case in order that the District Court may reconsider the matter before it in light of our opinion and judgment.
As Blackstone phrased it, habeas corpus is "the great and efficacious writ, in all manner of illegal confinement." [Footnote 2] As this Court said in Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391, 372 U. S. 401-402 (1963), the office of the writ is "to provide a prompt and efficacious remedy for whatever society deems to be intolerable restraints." See Peyton v. Rowe, 391 U. S. 54, 391 U. S. 65-67 (1968).
corpus proceeding must not be allowed to founder in a "procedural morass." Price v. Johnston, 334 U. S. 266, 334 U. S. 269 (1948).
Townsend v. Sain, supra at 372 U. S. 312.
such proceedings is not set forth in statutes of the United States, and has heretofore conformed to the practice in actions at law or suits in equity. [Footnote 3]"
Such specific evidence as there is with respect to the intent of the draftsmen of the rules indicates nothing more than a general and nonspecific understanding that the rules would have very limited application to habeas corpus proceedings. At the very least, it is clear that there was no intention to extend to habeas corpus, as a matter of right, the broad discovery provisions which, even in ordinary civil litigation, were "one of the most significant innovations" of the new rules. Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U. S. 495, 329 U. S. 500 (1947). Walker does not claim that there was any general discovery practice in habeas corpus proceedings prior to adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
By reference to Rule 26(b), the rule would give the prisoner a right to inquire into "any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action," whether admissible at trial or not. This rule has been generously construed to provide a great deal of latitude for discovery. See Hickman v. Taylor, supra, at 329 U. S. 507; 2A Barron & Holtzoff, supra, § 646. Such a broad-ranging preliminary inquiry is neither necessary nor appropriate in the context of a habeas corpus proceeding.
court approval, and that this would be of considerable tactical advantage to them in the prosecution of their efforts to demonstrate such error in their trial as would result in their release. But despite the forceful and ingenious argument of Walker's counsel and amici curiae, [Footnote 6] this consideration cannot carry the day. It is a long march from this contention to a conclusion that the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were intended to extend to habeas corpus proceedings. We have no power to rewrite the Rules by judicial interpretations. We have no power to decide that Rule 33 applies to habeas corpus proceedings unless, on conventional principles of statutory construction, we can properly conclude that the literal language or the intended effect of the Rules indicates that this was within the purpose of the draftsmen or the congressional understanding.
This case furnishes an apt illustration of he differences between my viewpoint and what seems to be that of the majority. As stated more fully in the Court's opinion, ante at 394 U. S. 288-28, Walker claimed that marihuana admitted at his trial was seized incident to an arrest which was based upon information supplied by an unreliable informant. After the District Court had ordered an evidentiary hearing, Walker directed to the respondent warden a series of interrogatories designed to establish the unreliability of the informant. The interrogatories asked whether the officer who arrested Walker had made previous arrests or searches on the basis of information given by the same informant; if so, whether such arrests or searches resulted in convictions, and whether the informant had ever supplied information which the officer considered unreliable.
Such considerations lead me to think that, in the longer view, the formulation of discovery rules can best be accomplished through use of the power which Congress has conferred upon us to establish general rules governing civil procedure in the federal district courts. By using this method of rulemaking, the advice of the Judicial Conference of the United States and its appropriate advisory committees could be obtained. [Footnote 2/2] These bodies are well equipped to assess the dimensions of the discovery problem and devise apt solutions. Their deliberations would be free from the time pressures and piecemeal character of case-by-case adjudication. And the resulting rules would be uniform throughout the federal system.
My conviction that this would be the best course is strengthened by recollection of our decision in Miner v. Atlass, 363 U. S. 641 (1960), and the events which followed. In Miner, we held that a District Court sitting in admiralty had no power to order the taking of an oral discovery deposition. Responding to a suggestion in our opinion, see 363 U.S. at 363 U. S. 651, and to earlier stirrings at the bar, the Judicial Conference and the Advisory Committee on General Admiralty Rules swiftly proposed new Admiralty Rules authorizing certain additional kinds of discovery, including oral depositions. After approval by this Court and submission to Congress, as required by statute, [Footnote 2/3] the new Admiralty Rules went into effect a little more than a year after our decision. [Footnote 2/4] There is no reason to think that the Judicial Conference and the advisory committees would not be equally cooperative in this instance.
My Brother STEWART bases his dissent in this case upon my own dissenting opinion in Kaufman v. United States, ante, p. 394 U. S. 242, in which I have taken the position that, in actions brought by federal prisoners under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, Fourth Amendment claims should be entertained only upon a showing of "special circumstances." I prefer to rest my disagreement with the result in this case upon other grounds, for two reasons. First, this case is not on all fours with Kaufman, since this was a federal habeas action by a state prisoner, rather than an action by a federal prisoner under § 2255. The Kaufman question has not been briefed or argued in this case, and there may conceivably be significant distinctions between the two types of proceedings. See, e.g., Amsterdam, Search, Seizure, and Section 2255: A Comment, 112 U.Pa.L.Rev. 378 (1964). Second, although this case happens, like Kaufman, to involve a search and seizure issue, the Court's reasoning here plainly applies to all claims cognizable on federal habeas corpus. Hence, it seems appropriate to rest my dissent upon broader grounds, which also appeal to my Brother WHITE.
However, for the reasons stated in MR. JUSTICE HARLAN's dissenting opinion today in Kaufman v. United States, ante, p. 394 U. S. 242, which I have joined, I would affirm the judgment in the present case.
368 U.S. at 368 U. S. 495.

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