Lonnie Peck v. J. Thomas

Petitioners Lonnie Peek, Louis Moon, and Deven Suesue are statutorily eligible for early release from prison in exchange for the successful completion of a residential drug abuse treatment program (“RDAP”). The Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”), however, has enacted a regulation disqualifying them from the early release incentive on the basis of their current convictions for felon in possession and one petitioner’s past conviction for robbery. See 28 C.F.R. § 550.55 (b). Petitioners each filed for a writ of habeas corpus asking the district court to invalidate the regulation under § 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). The district court dismissed the petitions, and the appeals were consolidated. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and § 2253 and we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Petitioners were each convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g), and are either currently serving sentences in BOP facilities or serving terms of supervised release. At the time of his conviction, Petitioner Moon had a past conviction for robbery, but he received no criminal history points under the Sentencing Guidelines because the…