{"ID":63902,"name":"Maxwell v. Thomas","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2026\/25-5930","view_count":0,"docket_number":"25-5930","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"William Maxwell","second_party":"Albert Thomas, III, Warden","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1780290000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/55839"}],"lower_court":{"ID":10,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/10"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EWilliam Maxwell is a federal prisoner housed at FCI Beaumont Low in Texas. In 2020, Maxwell asked prison officials to transfer him to a halfway house or home confinement, invoking several laws including the First Step Act\u0027s earned time credit provisions, which require the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to apply credits prisoners earn through participation in rehabilitation programs toward earlier placement in prerelease custody. The BOP responded only to Maxwell\u0027s request under the separate CARES Act and denied it, ignoring his First Step Act arguments entirely. After Maxwell pushed through the BOP\u0027s administrative grievance process \u2014 a process he contends the BOP actively obstructed by losing filings, failing to respond, and submitting a false declaration claiming he never raised First Step Act claims \u2014 he filed a federal habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. \u00a7 2241 seeking transfer to a halfway house or home confinement based on his earned First Step Act time credits.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe district court dismissed Maxwell\u0027s petition, ruling he had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies on his First Step Act claims. Maxwell appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which sua sponte affirmed dismissal on a different ground \u2014 holding under its own bright-line rule that because a favorable ruling would not automatically accelerate Maxwell\u0027s release from prison, a civil rights lawsuit, not a habeas petition, was the only proper vehicle for his claims.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003ECan a federal prisoner use a habeas corpus petition to challenge the government\u0027s calculation of First Step Act time credits in order to seek an earlier transfer to a halfway house or home confinement?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":null,"advocates":null,"oral_argument_audio":null,"citation":{"volume":null,"page":null,"year":null,"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_citation\/case_citation\/28155"},"decisions":null,"first_party_label":"Petitioner","second_party_label":"Respondent","heard_by":[null],"decided_by":null,"term":"2026","location":null,"opinion_announcement":null,"description":"A case in which the Court will decide whether a federal prisoner can use a habeas corpus petition to challenge the government\u0027s calculation of time credits earned under the First Step Act when seeking early transfer to a halfway house or home confinement.","written_opinion":null,"related_cases":null,"justia_url":null,"argument2_url":null}