Court Opinion

ID: 9487843
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:27:50.740429+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:30.715384
License: Public Domain

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because the district court may not dismiss section 2255 claims sua sponte as abusive without first giving petitioner an opportunity to show that he has not abused the procedure. See United States v. Fallon, 992 F.2d 212, 213 (8th Cir. 1993); Miller v. Solem, 758 F.2d 144, 145 (8th Cir.1985) (per curiam), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1054, 107 S.Ct. 2192, 95 L.Ed.2d 848 (1987). I would remand for further proceedings consistent with the established case law of our circuit.
McClesky v. Zant, 499 U.S. 467, 494, 111 S.Ct. 1454, 1470, 113 L.Ed.2d 517 (1990), relied on by the court, is not to the contrary. In the first place, McClesky did not involve a sua sponte dismissal. In the second place, McClesky specifically puts the burden of pleading abuse of the writ on the government, after which the petitioner is entitled to disprove that his petition is abusive. Since the district court did' not give petitioner such an opportunity here, the ease should be remanded.