United States v. Christopher Simmonds

BRORBY, Circuit Judge.

Mr. Simmonds, a federal prisoner, appeals the United States District Court for the District of Kansas’ denial of his motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. On appeal, we consider four issues: 1) whether this court should rule on a prisoner’s application for a certificate of appealability pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(e) before requiring the government to file a brief on the.appeal’s merits; 2) whether 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus 1 and 28 U.S.C. § 2255 proceedings are “civil actions” as contemplated by 28 U.S.C. § 1915 of the Prison Litigation…