Cite as: 523 U. S. 538 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
cant limits on the discretion of federal courts to grant habeas relief. See, e. g., McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U. S. 467, 487 (1991) (limiting "a district court's discretion to entertain abusive petitions"); Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72, 90-91 (1977) (limiting courts' discretion to entertain procedurally defaulted claims); Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288, 308-310 (1989) (plurality opinion of O'Connor, J.) (limiting courts' discretion to give retroactive application to "new rules" in habeas cases); Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619, 637-638 (1993) (limiting courts' discretion to grant habeas relief on the basis of "trial error").
These limits reflect our enduring respect for "the State's interest in the finality of convictions that have survived direct review within the state court system." Id., at 635; accord, Wood v. Bartholomew, 516 U. S. 1, 8 (1995) (per curiam); Sawyer v. Whitley, 505 U. S. 333, 338 (1992); Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes, 504 U. S. 1, 7 (1992); McCleskey, supra, at 491-492; Teague, supra, at 309; Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, 487 (1986); Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 127 (1982). Finality is essential to both the retributive and the deterrent functions of criminal law. "Neither innocence nor just punishment can be vindicated until the final judgment is known." McCleskey, supra, at 491. "Without finality, the criminal law is deprived of much of its deterrent effect." Teague, supra, at 309.
Finality also enhances the quality of judging. There is perhaps "nothing more subversive of a judge's sense of responsibility, of the inner subjective conscientiousness which is so essential a part of the difficult and subtle art of judging well, than an indiscriminate acceptance of the notion that all the shots will always be called by someone else." Bator, Finality in Criminal Law and Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners, 76 Harv. L. Rev. 441, 451 (1963).
Finality serves as well to preserve the federal balance. Federal habeas review of state convictions frustrates " 'both the States' sovereign power to punish offenders and their
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