28 U.S.C. § 2241 — Power to grant writ

(a) The Supreme Court, its justices, district^* courts, and circuit judges within their jurisdictions may grant habeas corpus writs. A circuit judge’s order goes into the records of the district where the complained-of restraint occurs. (b) The Supreme Court, its justices, and circuit judges may refuse an application or transfer it to the proper district court^*. (c) A writ may reach a prisoner only if (1) the prisoner is held under United States authority or for trial before a United States court; (2) the custody results from an act or omission under a congressional Act or a United States court’s order, process, judgment, or decree; (3) custody violates the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States; (4) a foreign citizen domiciled in that country is held for an act or omission under a foreign state’s claimed commission, order, sanction, or similar authority whose validity depends on international law; or (5) bringing the prisoner to court is needed for testimony or trial. (d) A person held under a State-court judgment in a State with at least two Federal districts may file in the district of custody or the district where the State court convicted and sentenced the person. Both have concurrent jurisdiction, and the filing court may transfer the case to the other in the interests of justice. (e)(1) No court, justice, or judge may hear an alien’s habeas application when the United States determined the alien was properly detained as an enemy combatant or the alien awaits that determination. (2) Except for the specified Detainee Treatment Act provisions, no court, justice, or judge may hear another action against the United States or its agents concerning any aspect of detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or confinement conditions of such an alien.