Supreme Court Decision in Welch Case Makes Johnson Case Retroactive
Nationwide
Monday’s
U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Welch case, which made the Johnson decision
retroactive, is the decision that we have been waiting for to put the key in
the lock for federal prisoners with ACCA residual clause issues. As was predicted here not a month ago, the
Supreme Court has held that the Johnson case announced a new substantive rule
that has retroactive effect in cases on collateral review.
In
practical terms, this means that there is now no rush to file a Johnson case
before the end of June, since the Supreme Court ruling takes precedence and
must be applied by all federal courts across the nation. We estimate that several thousand federal
prisoners will qualify for relief under this new holding.
In making
the Johnson holding retroactive, the court noted in Welch, “a majority of this
Court concluded that (previous decisions) did not bring sufficient clarity to
the scope of the residual clause, noting that the federal courts remained mired
in ‘pervasive disagreement’ over how the clause should be interpreted.” We read that as a rebuke to the circuits who
chose to ignore Johnson before today.
Those of
you who are currently represented by us may rest assured that we are examining
all of our filings and pending filings to incorporate this new decision.
However, if you have Johnson facts, or know someone who does, and wish to take
advantage of this landmark case, please contact us immediately.
Federal Legal Center, Inc.
federalc@yahoo.com
