The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5–4 on Jan. 9 to toss a procedural limit that had prevented a federal inmate from contesting a sentence.
The ruling increases the post-conviction legal options of federal prisoners seeking to challenge their sentences.
The nation’s highest court sided with petitioner Michael S. Bowe, rejecting a limit backed by the Trump administration on how many times a federal prisoner may challenge the lawfulness of his sentence.
Writing for the majority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, “if Bowe were in state custody, then the [federal] Government would be correct. He is not.”
Bowe was convicted of participating in an armed robbery of an armored car in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2008….