Cite as: 507 U. S. 680 (1993)
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
(Harlan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). As the Court explains today, federal courts exercising their habeas powers may refuse to grant relief on certain claims because of "prudential concerns" such as equity and federalism. Ante, at 686. This follows not only from the express language of the habeas statute, which directs the federal courts to "dispose of [habeas petitions] as law and justice require," 28 U. S. C. § 2243, but from our precedents as well. In Francis v. Henderson, 425 U. S. 536 (1976), we stated that "[t]his Court has long recognized that in some circumstances considerations of comity and concerns for the orderly administration of criminal justice require a federal court to forgo the exercise of its habeas corpus power." Id., at 539. Accord, Gomez v. United States Dist. Court for Northern Dist. of Cal., 503 U. S. 653, 653-654 (1992) ("Whether [a] claim is framed as a habeas petition or as a [42 U. S. C.] § 1983 action, [what is sought is] an equitable remedy"; as a result, equity must be "take[n] into consideration"); Fay v. Noia, supra, at 438 ("[H]abeas corpus has traditionally been regarded as governed by equitable principles"); Duckworth v. Eagan, 492 U. S. 195, 213 (1989) (O'Connor, J., concurring) ("[T]he Court has long recognized that habeas corpus [is] governed by equitable principles" (internal quotation marks omitted)).
Concerns for equity and federalism resonate throughout our habeas jurisprudence. In 1886, only eight years after Congress gave the federal courts power to issue writs ordering the release of state prisoners, this Court explained that courts could accommodate federalism and comity concerns by withholding relief until after state proceedings had terminated. Ex parte Royall, 117 U. S. 241, 251-253. Accord, Fay, supra, at 418-419. More recently, we relied on those same concerns in holding that new constitutional rules of criminal procedure do not apply retroactively on habeas. Teague, supra, at 306. Our treatment of successive petitions and procedurally defaulted claims similarly is governed by equitable principles. McCleskey, 499 U. S., at 489-491
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