Opinion ID: 3039952
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Grounds Raised by Petitioners

Text: [1] The district court properly concluded that the grounds for relief raised by Carrington and Tillitz in their initial motions are foreclosed by our case law. A writ of audita querela1 is not an available remedy where the claims raised would be cognizable in a § 2255 habeas petition. See United States v. Valdez-Pacheco, 237 F.3d 1077, 1080 (9th Cir. 2001). Rather, common law writs such as audita querela and coram nobis survive “only to the extent that they fill ‘gaps’ in the current systems of postconviction relief.” Id. at 1079. [2] These petitioners argue that there is a gap in postconviction relief. They contend that the numerical limits on filing habeas petitions preclude them from raising a claim 1 Audita querela, literally “the complaint having been heard,” is a common law writ used to attack a judgment that was correct when rendered, but that later became incorrect because of circumstances that arose after the judgment was issued. See Doe v. INS, 120 F.3d 200, 203 n.4 (9th Cir. 1997). 19386 CARRINGTON v. UNITED STATES based on Booker through a § 2255 habeas petition. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2255, 2244(b)(3). We have previously held, however, that the statutory limits on second or successive habeas petitions do not create a “gap” in the post-conviction landscape that can be filled with the common law writs. See Valdez-Pacheco, 237 F.3d at 1080. Moreover, even if petitioners had been granted permission to file a second or successive habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b)(3), we have held that Booker does not apply to cases on collateral appeal. See United States v. Cruz, 423 F.3d 1119, 1121 (9th Cir. 2005) (per curiam). Therefore, petitioners are not entitled to relief on collateral review, however it is labeled. [3] Similarly, the district court properly found that it could not modify petitioners’ sentences under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). Section 3582(c)(2) allows the district court to modify a sentence where the applicable sentencing range has been lowered by the Sentencing Commission subsequent to the imposition of the sentence. Booker did not lower sentencing ranges, nor was Booker an action “by the Sentencing Commission”; therefore § 3582(c)(2), by its own terms, does not apply here. See United States v. Moreno, 421 F.3d 1217, 1220-21 (11th Cir. 2005). To accept the Petitioners’ construction of § 3582(c)(2) would be to stretch that provision beyond what its language can bear. [4] Accordingly, the district court is correct that the only relief available to these petitioners would be for this court to recall our mandate. We now turn to that question.