United States DC Circuit

The Prison Litigation Reform Act does not require convicted felon to exhaust administrative remedies on his Constitutional challenge to the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act because the Federal Bureau of Prisons has no discretion not to collect his DNA, and hence there is no administrative process to exhaust. Dismissal is affirmed for failure to state a claim for relief, since extraction and storage of appellant's DNA does not burden his religious exercise.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/30/2008
• Published 12/30/2008

Judges

• Before:  SENTELLE, Chief Judge, and HENDERSON and KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States DC Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jef Kosseff, Student Counsel, argued the cause as amicus curiae in support of petitioner.   With him on the briefs were Steven H. Goldblatt, appointed by the court, and Cecily E. Baskir, Damon C. Elder, and Elizabeth A. Rose, Student Counsel., Russell Kaemmerling, pro se, was on the brief for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Oliver W. McDaniel, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the cause for appellee.   With him on the brief were Jeffrey A. Taylor, U.S. Attorney, and R. Craig Lawrence and Michael J. Ryan, Assistant U.S. Attorneys.