Source: https://fr.scribd.com/document/1052730/US-Supreme-Court-02-9065
Timestamp: 2019-11-22 12:02:01
Document Index: 489078705

Matched Legal Cases: ['§2254', '§1979', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§2254', '§1983', '§1997', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983', '§1983']

US Supreme Court: 02-9065 | Supreme Court Of The United States | Habeas Corpus
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(Slip Opinion) Cite as: 540 U. S.
____ (2004) 1
Federal law opens two main avenues to relief on com-
plaints related to imprisonment: a petition for habeas
corpus, 28 U. S. C. §2254, and a complaint under the Civil
Rights Act of 1871, Rev. Stat. §1979, as amended, 42
U. S. C. §1983. Challenges to the validity of any confine-
ment or to particulars affecting its duration are the prov-
ince of habeas corpus, Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U. S. 475,
500 (1973); requests for relief turning on circumstances of
confinement may be presented in a §1983 action. Some
cases are hybrids, with a prisoner seeking relief unavail-
able in habeas, notably damages, but on allegations that
not only support a claim for recompense, but imply the
invalidity either of an underlying conviction or of a par-
ticular ground for denying release short of serving the
maximum term of confinement. In Heck v. Humphrey, 512
U. S. 477 (1994), we held that where success in a pris-
oner’s §1983 damages action would implicitly question the
validity of conviction or duration of sentence, the litigant
must first achieve favorable termination of his available
2 MUHAMMAD v. CLOSE
state, or federal habeas, opportunities to challenge the
underlying conviction or sentence. Accordingly, in Ed-
wards v. Balisok, 520 U. S. 641 (1997), we applied Heck in
the circumstances of a §1983 action claiming damages and
equitable relief for a procedural defect in a prison’s ad-
ministrative process, where the administrative action
taken against the plaintiff could affect credits toward
release based on good-time served. In each instance,
conditioning the right to bring a §1983 action on a favor-
able result in state litigation or federal habeas served the
practical objective of preserving limitations on the avail-
ability of habeas remedies. Federal petitions for habeas
corpus may be granted only after other avenues of relief
have been exhausted. 28 U. S. C. §2254(b)(1)(A). See Rose
v. Lundy, 455 U. S. 509 (1982). Prisoners suing under
§1983, in contrast, generally face a substantially lower
gate, even with the requirement of the Prison Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 that administrative opportunities be
exhausted first. 42 U. S. C. §1997e(a).
Heck’s requirement to resort to state litigation and
federal habeas before §1983 is not, however, implicated by
a prisoner’s challenge that threatens no consequence for
his conviction or the duration of his sentence.1 There is no
need to preserve the habeas exhaustion rule and no im-
pediment under Heck in such a case, of which this is an
assumption is that the incarceration that matters under Heck is
the incarceration ordered by the original judgment of conviction, not
special disciplinary confinement for infraction of prison rules. This
Court has never followed the speculation in Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411
U. S. 475, 499 (1973), that such a prisoner subject to “additional and
unconstitutional restraint” might have a habeas claim independent of
§1983, and the contention is not raised by the State here.
2 Members of the Court have expressed the view that unavailability of
habeas for other reasons may also dispense with the Heck requirement.
See 512 U. S., at 491 (SOUTER, J., concurring in judgment); Spencer v.
Cite as: 540 U. S. ____ (2004) 3
This suit grew out of a confrontation between petitioner,
Muhammad, an inmate, and the respondent Michigan
prison official, Close. App. 70. According to his amended
complaint, Muhammad was eating breakfast when he saw
Close “staring at him through the hallway window.” Id.,
at 71. Eventually Muhammad stared back, provoking
Close to assume “a fighting stance” and “com[e] into the
dining area at a fast pace with his face contorted.” Ibid.
Muhammad stood up and faced him, and when the two
were within a foot of one another, Close asked, “whats [sic]
up,” all the while “staring angerly [sic].” In the aftermath
of the confrontation, Muhammad was handcuffed, taken to
a detention cell, and charged with violating the prison rule
prohibiting “Threatening Behavior.”3 Under the rules,
special detention was required prior to a hearing on the
charge, which occurred six days later. Muhammad was
acquitted of threatening behavior, but found guilty of the
lesser infraction of insolence, for which prehearing deten-
tion would not have been mandatory.4 Ibid. Muhammad
was required to serve an additional 7 days of detention
and deprived of privileges for 30 days as penalties for
insolence. Ibid.
Muhammad then brought this §1983 action, alleging
that Close had charged him with threatening behavior
Kemna, 523 U. S. 1, 21–22 (1998) (GINSBURG, J., concurring). This case
is no occasion to settle the issue.
3 The Michigan Department of Corrections Policy Directive,
No. 03.03.105 (June 6, 1994) (Directive) defines “Threatening Behavior”
as “Words, actions or other behavior which expresses a[n] intent to
injure or physically abuse another person.” App. 40.
4 The Directive defines “Insolence” as “Words, actions, or other be-
havior which is intended to harass, or cause alarm in an employee.”
4 MUHAMMAD v. CLOSE
(and subjected him to mandatory prehearing lockup) in
retaliation for prior lawsuits and grievance proceedings
against Close. Id., at 72. He amended his original com-
plaint after obtaining counsel, and neither in his amended
complaint nor at any subsequent juncture did Muhammad
challenge his conviction for insolence, or the subsequent
disciplinary action. See Brief for Petitioner 42. The
amended complaint sought no expungement of the mis-
conduct finding, and in fact Muhammad conceded that the
insolence determination was justified. The only relief
sought was $10,000 in compensatory and punitive dam-
ages “for the physical, mental, and emotional injuries
sustained” during the six days of prehearing detention
mandated by the charge of threatening behavior attribut-
able to Close’s retaliatory motive. App. 72.
Following discovery, the Magistrate Judge recom-
mended summary judgment for Close on the ground that
Muhammad had failed to come forward with sufficient
evidence of retaliation to raise a genuine issue of material
fact as to that element. Id., at 63. The District Court
adopted the recommendation. Id., at 70.
Muhammad then appealed to the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which, by an opinion desig-
nated not for publication, affirmed the summary judgment
for Close, though not on the basis recommended by the
Magistrate Judge and adopted by the District Court. 47
Fed. Appx. 738 (2002). Instead of considering the conclu-
sion that Muhammad had produced inadequate evidence
of retaliation, a ground that would have been dispositive if
sustained, the Court of Appeals held the action barred by
Heck because Muhammad had sought, among other relief,
the expungement of the misconduct charge from the prison
record. Relying upon Circuit precedent, see Huey v. Stine,
230 F. 3d 226 (2000), the Court of Appeals held that an
Cite as: 540 U. S. ____ (2004) 5
action under §1983 to expunge his misconduct charge and
for other relief occasioned by the misconduct proceedings
could be brought only after satisfying Heck’s favorable
termination requirement. The Circuit thus maintained a
split on the applicability of Heck to prison disciplinary
proceedings in the absence of any implication going to the
fact or duration of underlying sentence, four Circuits
having taken the contrary view. See Leamer v. Fauver,
288 F. 3d 532, 542–544 (CA3 2002); DeWalt v. Carter, 224
F. 3d 607, 613 (CA7 2000); Jenkins v. Haubert, 179 F. 3d
19, 27 (CA2 1999); Brown v. Plaut, 131 F. 3d 163, 167–169
(CADC 1997). We granted certiorari to resolve the con-
flict, 539 U. S. 925 (2003), and now reverse.
The decision of the Court of Appeals was flawed as a
matter of fact and as a matter of law. Its factual error was
the assumption that Muhammad sought to expunge the
misconduct charge from his prison record. The court
simply overlooked the amended complaint that sought no
The factual error was compounded by following the
mistaken view expressed in Circuit precedent that Heck
applies categorically to all suits challenging prison disci-
plinary proceedings. But these administrative determina-
tions do not as such raise any implication about the valid-
ity of the underlying conviction, and although they may
affect the duration of time to be served (by bearing on the
award or revocation of good-time credits) that is not neces-
sarily so. The effect of disciplinary proceedings on good-
time credits is a matter of state law or regulation, and in
this case, the Magistrate expressly found or assumed that
no good-time credits were eliminated by the prehearing
action Muhammad called in question. His §1983 suit
challenging this action could not therefore be construed as
seeking a judgment at odds with his conviction or with the
6 MUHAMMAD v. CLOSE
State’s calculation of time to be served in accordance with
the underlying sentence. That is, he raised no claim on
which habeas relief could have been granted on any recog-
nized theory, with the consequence that Heck’s favorable
termination requirement was inapplicable.
Close tries to salvage the appellate court’s judgment by
arguing for the first time here that Heck is squarely on
point because, if the §1983 suit succeeded, Muhammad
would be entitled to restoration of some good-time credits
with the result of less time to be spent in prison. Brief for
Respondent 17–18. But this eleventh-hour contention was
waived. The Magistrate’s report stated that good-time
credits were not affected by the allegedly retaliatory over-
charge of threatening behavior and the consequential
prehearing detention Muhammad complained of, and
Close had every opportunity to challenge the Magistrate’s
position in the District Court and in the Court of Appeals.
Having failed to raise the claim when its legal and factual
premises could have been litigated, Close cannot raise it
now. See Auer v. Robbins, 519 U. S. 452, 464 (1997).
reversed, and the case is remanded for consideration of
summary judgment on the ground adopted by the District
Court, and for any further proceedings consistent with
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