Jones v. Hendrix. Petitioner was convicted of being a felon in possession 22 years ago, and took and lost a habeas petition to challenge that. Under legislation limiting habeas relief, he could only take a second petition for specified grounds, including a change in constitutional interpretation.

He brought a second habeas petition, after the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that, in a felon in possession case, the government must prove that the defendant knew he possessed a gun, and also knew that he’d been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year’s imprisonment. So is there some way around the fact that the statute only allows a second petition based on a new *constitutional* interpretation, and says nothing about a new interpretation of statute?

Latest event: the Attorney General declined to argue the government’s position (they can do that if they jump thru some hoops) and the Court appointed (“invited,” but when the Supreme Court invites you, you do not decline) a private attorney to argue it.