| Litigants: | Magwood v. Patterson |
| Decidedate: | June 24 |
| Decideyear: | 2010 |
| Usvol: | 561 |
| Uspage: | 287 |
| Holding: | When a state prisoner obtains federal habeas corpus relief and is re-sentenced, a habeas application challenging the new judgment is not a "second or successive" challenge even if the prisoner could have challenged the original sentence on the same ground. |
| Majority: | Thomas |
| Dissent: | Kennedy |
| Joindissent: | Roberts, Ginsberg, Alito |
Magwood v. Patterson, 561 U.S. 287 (2010), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that, when a state prisoner obtains federal habeas corpus relief and is re-sentenced, a habeas application challenging the new judgment is not a "second or successive" challenge even if the prisoner could have challenged the original sentence on the same ground.
In this context, the Court said the habeas petition challenged the judgment, not the state's overall custody of the petitioner. If the Court had interpreted this situation as a "second or successive challenge," the petitioner's case would have been ignored under - even if it was meritorious.[1]