A bill to amend title 28, United States Code, to make clear that State or Federal prisoners who are otherwise eligible for Federal habeas corpus relief may not be denied such relief on the ground that such State or Federal Government provided an opportunity for a full and fair litigation of a constitutional claim.

Summary

Directs that an otherwise proper application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a person in custody pursuant to a judgement of a State court be entertained in a U.S. district court without regard to whether the State court afforded the applicant an opportunity to fully and fairly litigate the issue constituting the basis of such application, so long as the applicant did not deliberately bypass a procedure through which such claim could have been presented. Prohibits any provision of law or any rule prescribed by the Supreme Court from precluding a Federal court from granting appropriate relief to a prisoner whom it has sentenced upon its finding that the judgment was rendered without jurisdiction, that the sentence imposed was unauthorized, or that the prisoner's constitutional rights have been denied or infringed, unless it also finds that the prisoner deliberately bypassed a procedure available to assert his constitutional rights.

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1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 28 March 1977

  Open at official source

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