Fernandez v. United States · ¶94

Section 3582(c)(1)(A) and § 2255 also differ in the nature of the relief that they provide. Most notably, the grant of compassionate release—even on actual-innocence grounds— does nothing to invalidate the underlying conviction. A neighboring subsection explicitly clarifes that compassionate release does not disturb the finality of the “judgment of conviction.” § 3582(b). Not so with habeas—when a § 2255 applicant successfully challenges the validity of his conviction, the result is vacatur. See § 2255(b) (“If the court finds . . . that there has been such a denial or infringement of the constitutional rights of the prisoner as to render the judgment vulnerable to collateral attack, the court shall vacate and set the judgment aside” (emphasis added)).

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