In U.S. v. Holt, No. 04-15848 (July 19, 2005), the Court (Tjoflat, Birch, Dubina) denied an inmate’s Booker-based writ of audita querela which challenged a sentence.
At common law, a writ of audita querela – Latin for "the complaint having been heard" – allowed a challenge to a judgment after it was rendered because of some defense or discharge arising afterward. The Court noted, however, that such common law writs only survive the habeas corpus statutes to the extent that they fill gaps in these statutes. Here, there was no gap to be filed, because § 2255 provides a specific remedy for Holt’s type of challenge, namely a constitutional attack on his sentence. Therefore, no writ of audita querela could be entertained.
Further, because Holt had previously filed a first § 2255 motion, his current proceeding, converted into a § 2255 motion, was deemed "second and successive" under the AEDPA. As such, it had to be dismissed because Holt failed to obtain the requisite authorization from the court of appeals to initiate a second or successive § 2255 proceeding.
