382
Opinion of the Court
legal basis, see Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U. S. 5, 10 (1980) (per curiam); Andrews v. United States, 373 U. S. 334 (1963).
We here address one aspect of this practice, namely, certain legal limits that nine Circuits have placed on recharacterization. Those Circuits recognize that, by recharacterizing as a first § 2255 motion a pro se litigant's filing that did not previously bear that label, the court may make it significantly more difficult for that litigant to file another such motion. They have consequently concluded that a district court may not recharacterize a pro se litigant's motion as a request for relief under § 2255—unless the court first warns the pro se litigant about the consequences of the recharacterization, thereby giving the litigant an opportunity to contest the recharacterization, or to withdraw or amend the motion. See Adams v. United States, 155 F. 3d 582, 583 (CA2 1998) (per curiam); United States v. Miller, supra, at 646-647 (CA3); United States v. Emmanuel, 288 F. 3d 644, 646-647 (CA4 2002); In re Shelton, 295 F. 3d 620, 622 (CA6 2002) (per curiam); Henderson v. United States, supra, at 710-711 (CA7); Morales v. United States, 304 F. 3d 764, 767 (CA8 2002); United States v. Seesing, 234 F. 3d 456, 463 (CA9 2000); United States v. Kelly, supra, at 1240-1241 (CA10); United States v. Palmer, 296 F. 3d, at 1146 (CADC); see also 290 F. 3d, at 1273, 1274 (case below) (suggesting that courts provide such warnings).
No one here contests the lawfulness of this judicially created requirement. The Government suggests that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 47 provides adequate underlying legal authority for the procedural practice. Brief for United States 42. It suggests that this Court has the authority to regulate the practice through "the exercise" of our "supervisory powers" over the Federal Judiciary. E. g., McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332, 340-341 (1943). And it notes that limiting the courts' authority to recharacterize, approximately as the Courts of Appeals have done,
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