Fernandez v. United States · ¶106

Start with Preiser. In that case, we considered a 42 U. S. C. § 1983 claim brought by state prisoners who asserted the unconstitutional deprivation of “good-conduct-time credits” that would have shortened their sentences. 411 U. S., at 476. The prisoners sought “injunctive relief to compel restoration of the credits, which in each case would result in their immediate release from confinement.” Ibid. We held that the state prisoners could not seek such an injunction under § 1983 and instead had to proceed under 28 U. S. C. § 2254, the habeas statute for state prisoners. Id., at 490, 500. In so holding, we explained that § 1983 is a “general” statute that broadly guarantees equitable and legal remedies for the deprivation of any federal right. Id., at 489. Its breadth causes it to bump up against § 2254, which is “specific” in that it was “explicitly and historically designed to provide…

preliminary print (page proof)
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.