(Download) "Walker V. O'brien" by Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Walker V. O'brien
- Author : Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 22, 2000
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 78 KB
Description
The passage of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), Pub. L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), and the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), Pub. L. No. 104-134, sec. 801 et seq., 110 Stat. 1321-66 (1996), which became effective on April 24, 1996 and April 26, 1996, respectively, ushered in a new and far more restrictive era for prisoner litigation. A critical feature of both statutes was the creation of gatekeeping mechanisms designed to keep frivolous suits out of the federal courts. Both this court and our sister circuits have had occasion during the nearly four years that have passed since the laws took effect to flesh out the rules governing those gatekeeping functions. The cases before us today, which we consolidated for purposes of oral argument and this opinion, raise once again the question of how the statutory gatekeeping mechanisms work together: in particular, whether the fee payment and other rules of the PLRA apply to requests for federal collateral relief, whether under 28 U.S.C. sec.sec. 2241, 2254, or 2255. We say "again," because the court has already spoken to this question in two decisions, Newlin v. Helman, 123 F.3d 429 (7th Cir. 1997), and Thurman v. Gramley, 97 F.3d 185 (7th Cir. 1997), which held that civil filing fees must be paid pursuant to the PLRA in collateral relief proceedings that are not a functional continuation of the criminal prosecution. See Newlin, 123 F.3d at 438.