---
title: "Circuit Overlays"
module_id: "MOD-CIRCUIT-OVERLAYS-INDEX"
url: "https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/"
current_through: "2026-08-26"
legal_review: "2026-08-25"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Circuit Overlays

The overlay layer keeps binding nationwide authority separate from circuit law and makes unresolved circuit propositions visible. Start with the [Supreme Court and nationwide floor](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/supreme-court.md), then use the circuit with appellate jurisdiction over the actual case.

- [First Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/first-circuit.md)
- [Second Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/second-circuit.md)
- [Third Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/third-circuit.md)
- [Fourth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/fourth-circuit.md)
- [Fifth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/fifth-circuit.md)
- [Sixth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/sixth-circuit.md)
- [Seventh Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/seventh-circuit.md)
- [Eighth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/eighth-circuit.md)
- [Ninth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/ninth-circuit.md)
- [Tenth Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/tenth-circuit.md)
- [Eleventh Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/eleventh-circuit.md)
- [D.C. Circuit](https://jason93.com/legal/federal-process/modules/95-circuit-overlays/dc-circuit.md)

The administrative-exhaustion comparison now contains a bounded published holding for every regional circuit except the D.C. Circuit. The D.C. Circuit exhaustion row remains expressly `not_verified` because the public-source review did not locate an exact published controlling BOP/§ 2241 formulation. The First Step Act § 404 procedure-and-review, § 3582(c)(1)(A) defendant-filing procedure, and § 3583(e) modification-or-early-termination comparisons contain bounded published controlling holdings for all 12 regional circuits. The § 3582 comparison preserves whether the filing prerequisite is nonjurisdictional, when waiver or mandatory enforcement applies, the remedy for prematurity, renewed-motion treatment, and the First and D.C. Circuits' express nonholdings on issue exhaustion; it does not import superseded compassionate-release merits law. The § 3583(e) comparison separately preserves early termination, condition modification, factor consideration, explanation, changed-circumstance, hearing, pending-appeal jurisdiction, and collateral-attack limits rather than presenting a false uniform rule. The federal-process § 2241 COA comparison contains a bounded published controlling holding for every regional circuit except the Fourth Circuit; that circuit remains `not_verified` because current Rule 22 and unpublished dispositions do not establish the exact published precedential formulation required by this project. The residual-writ comparison contains bounded published audita-querela holdings for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits. The Fourth and Eighth Circuits remain `not_verified` because the located published or unpublished material did not decide the required controlling question, and the Sixth Circuit remains `not_verified` because its squarely relevant Ejelonu panel opinion was vacated on rehearing en banc and the appeal was dismissed. All other unresolved issue rows remain `not_verified` until a current published precedential opinion and applicable local rule are checked; silence is never treated as a rule.