Curtis Files Pro Bono Amicus Brief for UVA Law School’s Civil Rights Clinic in SCOTUS

On April 14, 2025, acting as pro bono counsel, a Curtis team filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the University of Virginia School of Law’s Civil Rights Clinic and four civil rights organizations in Bowe v. United States.

The question presented is whether a federal statute prohibiting state prisoners from filing second or successive petitions for habeas corpus also applies to federal prisoners seeking to vacate their convictions based on subsequent changes in constitutional law, and whether the relevant statute (AEDPA) has stripped the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to address this question.

A minority of circuits allow federal prisoners to file second or successive motions to vacate their convictions and obtain resentencing based on a literal reading of the relevant provisions of AEDPA, while other circuits prevent federal prisoners from seeking such a correction of their sentences by reading the statute more broadly. The amicus brief highlighted the fundamental injustice that results from the differing interpretations of the statute both for Mr. Bowe and other federal prisoners across circuits.

The Curtis team included Juan Perla, T. Barry Kingham, Robert García, and Joseph Muschitiello.