Rivers v. Guerrero

Rivers v. Guerrero
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided June 12, 2025
Full case name	Rivers v. Guerrero
Docket no.	23-1345
Citations	605 U.S. ___ (more)
Holding
Once a district court enters its judgment with respect to a first-filed habeas petition, a second-in-time filing qualifies as a "second or successive application" properly subject to the requirements of §2244(b).
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh Amy Coney Barrett · Ketanji Brown Jackson
Case opinion
Majority	Jackson, joined by unanimous

Rivers v. Guerrero, 605 U.S. ___ (2025), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that once a district court enters its judgment with respect to a first-filed habeas corpus petition, a second-in-time filing qualifies as a "second or successive application" properly subject to the requirements of §2244(b).

Background

Danny Rivers was convicted in Texas state court of criminal charges. After unsuccessfully seeking direct appeal and state habeas relief, Rivers filed his first federal habeas corpus petition in August 2017, asserting claims of prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, and other constitutional violations. The district court denied the petition in September 2018, and Rivers appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which granted a certificate of appealability on his ineffective-assistance claim in July 2020.

While his appeal was pending, Rivers obtained his trial lawyer's client file, which contained a state investigator's report that he believed was exculpatory. After the Fifth Circuit denied his request to supplement the record on appeal, Rivers filed a second habeas petition in the district court based on this newly discovered evidence. The district court classified this second-in-time filing as a "second or successive" habeas application and transferred it to the Fifth Circuit for authorization to file. Rivers appealed the transfer order, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed, holding that the fact that Rivers's first petition was still on appeal did not permit him to circumvent the requirements for successive petitions under §2244 as to his second filing.

External links

• Text of Rivers v. Guerrero, No. 23-1345, 605 U.S. ___ (2025) is available from: Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain.