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Supreme Court Will Hear Habeas Challenge Over First Step Act Time Credits

The case could decide whether federal judges may hear prisoners’ challenges to denials of earned time credits and order earlier transfers to lower-security settings.

(Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • The Supreme Court granted review in Maxwell v. Thomas on Monday, adding the case to its 2026–27 term docket.
  • The central question the justices will decide is whether federal prisoners can use habeas corpus to challenge Bureau of Prisons denials of earned time credits under the First Step Act.
  • William Maxwell, serving a 20-year racketeering sentence in Texas, filed his Supreme Court petition pro se and later secured private counsel to press the claim.
  • A lower court dismissed Maxwell’s habeas petition for failing to exhaust administrative remedies, a point the Solicitor General raised to the high court and that the government continues to press.
  • The decision comes as the Court has recently taken several First Step Act cases and could reshape when courts may review BOP credit decisions and how prisoners secure transfers to halfway houses or home confinement.