Ansari v. Edge
- Colleen McMahon
- 1:20-cv-03469
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ansari v. Edge, Chief Judge McMahon transferred Ansari’s detention-release petition to the Eastern District of New York.
Azizi Ansari, whose detention-release petition was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York; the transferee court will decide whether he may proceed without paying fees.
What happened
Ansari v. Edge involved Azizi Ansari’s request for release from detention because he said his compromised immune system increased his risk from COVID-19. He represented himself and was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The court explained that a federal detention challenge generally belongs where the person is confined because that court has authority over the person’s custodian. The Brooklyn facility is in the Eastern District of New York.
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon transferred the petition there under federal venue law and closed the case in the Southern District of New York. She also denied fee-free status for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Ansari v. Edge · No. 1:20-cv-03469
- Colleen McMahon
- May 5, 2020
Background
Azizi Ansari, who was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, filed a self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. A petition under that statute asks a federal court to review a person’s detention. Ansari sought compassionate release based on his compromised immune system and risk of contracting COVID-19. He also alleged that he had contracted Valley Fever from coccidioides fungi while imprisoned in Tucson, Arizona.
The opinion states that Ansari had been convicted in a separate criminal case in the Eastern District of Louisiana and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. It also states that he had served 149 months. The opinion notes that he had separately filed a compassionate-release motion in that criminal case. Ansari had not paid the $5 filing fee or submitted an application to proceed without paying fees.
Reasoning
The court held that a court hearing a § 2241 petition must have authority over the petitioner’s custodian. For a petition challenging physical confinement, jurisdiction generally lies in the federal district where the petitioner is confined. Ansari was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which is in the Eastern District of New York, not the Southern District of New York.
Ruling
Chief Judge Colleen McMahon transferred the petition to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a), in the interest of justice. The Clerk of Court was directed to mail Ansari a copy of the order, record service, and transfer the action. The court waived the usual seven-day delay before the transfer. It stated that the Eastern District of New York would decide whether Ansari could proceed without paying fees. The order closed the case in the Southern District of New York.
The court also certified that any appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free status for purposes of an appeal.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.