George Torres, pro se, moves for a certificate of appealability (“COA”), permitting him to appeal an order entered by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, (Chin, J., sitting by designation). The order denied Torres’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(d) motion for relief from the District Court’s prior order denying his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. In Kellogg v. Strack,
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In November of 2013, Torres filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion challenging his federal conviction for conspiracy to commit murder. The District Court denied the motion, and Torres then moved under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(d) to set aside the denial on the grounds that the Government had committed fraud on the court. The district court denied Torres’s Rule 60(d) motion and de
DISCUSSION
A petitioner’s right to appeal an order denying a § 2255 motion is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c), which provides that “[ujnless a circuit justice or judge issues a certifícate of appealability, an appeal may not be taken to the court of appeals from ... (B) the final order in a proceeding under section 2255.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1). The question presented by Torres’s COA motion is whether a district court’s denial of a Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(d) motion for relief from an order denying a § 2255 motion is governed by this provision, thereby requiring that a COA be issued before the appeal may go forward.
We addressed a nearly identical question in Kellogg. In Kellogg, we explained that, because an order denying a Rule 60(b) motion is a “final order,” the plain text of § 2253(c)(1) makes the COA requirement applicable to an order denying a Rule 60(b) motion in a habeas proceeding under § 2254.
We thus expressly hold that a petitioner must obtain a COA to appeal the denial of a Rule 60(d) motion in a § 2255 proceeding. We now address the merits of Torres’s COA motion. In order to obtain a COA, Torres must show that “(1) jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court abused its discretion in denying his Rule 60[ (d) ] motion, and (2) jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the underlying [§ 2255 motion],” in light of the grounds alleged to support the 60(d) motion, “states a valid claim of the denial of a constitutional right.”- Kellogg,
Notes
. Although Thompkins was decided in the § 2254 habeas context, its reasoning applies with equal force in the § 2255 context. See Jackson v. Albany Appeal Bureau Unit,
