Cite as: 532 U. S. 374 (2001)
Scalia, J., concurring in part
Justice Scalia, concurring in part.
I agree with the Court that 28 U. S. C. § 2255 (1994 ed., Supp. V) does not (with the Gideon exception, see Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335 (1963)) permit inquiry into whether a conviction later used to enhance a federal sentence was unconstitutionally obtained, and I agree with the Court's reasoning so far as it goes. I have another reason for reaching that result, however, and one that prevents me from joining that portion of the Court's opinion which speculates that "[t]here may be rare circumstances in which § 2255 would be available," such as when "no channel of review was actually available to a defendant with respect to a prior conviction, due to no fault of his own," ante, at 376, 383. Simply put, "the text of § 2255 is" not "broad enough to cover a claim that an enhanced federal sentence violates due process," ante, at 383, if the enhancement is based on prior convictions.
In addition to the practical reasons Justice O'Connor identifies as counseling against petitioner's interpretation of § 2255, there stands the very text of that provision. "[W]e have long recognized that 'the power to award the writ [of habeas corpus] by any of the courts of the United States, must be given by written law,' " Felker v. Turpin, 518 U. S. 651, 664 (1996), quoting Ex parte Bollman, 4 Cranch 75, 94 (1807). Section 2255 authorizes a challenge by "[a] prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States." (Emphases added.) We have already determined, in Custis v. United States, 511 U. S. 485 (1994), that a sentencing court does not violate the Due Process Clause by imposing a sentence enhanced by prior, purportedly tainted, convictions, unless the taint is the result of a Gideon violation.* It follows ineluctably that
*Justice Souter asserts that Custis "merely held (with [the] exception [of Gideon violations]) that neither the ACCA nor the Constitution provides a forum at the sentencing hearing for challenges to the underlying
385
Page: Index Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007