Muse v. Warden
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-06691
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Muse v. Warden, Judge Swain transferred Muse’s confinement challenge to Maryland because that court has authority over his custodian.
Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, whose § 2241 petition was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the District of Maryland; the Maryland court will decide whether he may proceed without paying fees.
What happened
In Muse v. Warden, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, who is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, filed this case without a lawyer. The court treated his letter as a petition challenging his confinement under a federal law governing such petitions.
The Southern District of New York explained that these petitions generally belong in the district where the person is confined because that court has authority over the person responsible for custody. Because the facility is in Maryland, the court found that transferring the case there was in the interest of justice.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the Clerk to transfer the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and closed the case in the Southern District of New York. She left any decision about proceeding without paying filing fees to the Maryland court and denied fee-free status for an appeal, certifying that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Muse v. Warden · No. 1:25-cv-06691
- Laura Swain
- Aug. 20, 2025
Background
Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the petitioner, is incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Cumberland in Maryland. He brought this action without a lawyer, initially submitting a letter to District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who had presided over his criminal proceedings. Judge Preska directed that the matter be opened as a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, a federal procedure for challenging certain aspects of custody.
Reason for Transfer
The court explained that a court hearing a § 2241 petition must have authority over the petitioner’s custodian. For a petition challenging physical confinement, that authority generally exists in the federal district where the petitioner is confined. Because FCI Cumberland is located in the District of Maryland, the Southern District of New York transferred the petition there under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), which permits transfer when doing so serves the interest of justice.
Ruling
The Clerk of Court was directed to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York. The court stated that the Maryland court would decide whether Muse could proceed without paying fees; Muse had not paid the $5 filing fee or submitted an application to proceed without payment. Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.