290
Opinion of Thomas, J.
Jackson itself contributed to this trend. There, we held that a conviction violates due process if supported only by evidence from which "no rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." 443 U. S., at 317. We stated explicitly that a state-court judgment applying the Jackson rule in a particular case "is of course entitled to deference" on federal habeas. Id., at 323; see also id., at 336, n. 9 (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment) ("State judges are more familiar with the elements of state offenses than are federal judges and should be better able to evaluate sufficiency claims"). Notwithstanding these principles, however, we then indicated that the habeas court itself should apply the Jackson rule, see id., at 324, rather than merely reviewing the state courts' application of it for reasonableness. Ultimately, though, we had no occasion to resolve our conflicting statements on the standard of review question, because we concluded that the habeas petitioner was not entitled to relief even under our own de novo application of Jackson. See id., at 324-326.7
nor offers nothing to refute those of our limited observations with which she evidently disagrees—that an unadorned citation to Brown should not have been enough, at least as an original matter, to establish de novo review with respect to mixed questions; and that in none of our leading cases was the choice between a de novo and a deferential standard outcome determinative.
7 Justice O'Connor asserts that Jackson "expressly rejected" a "defer-ential standard of review" that she characterizes as "very much like the one" urged on us by petitioners. Post, at 303 (citing 443 U. S., at 323). What Jackson expressly rejected, however, was a proposal that habeas review "should be foreclosed" if the state courts provide "appellate review of the sufficiency of the evidence." Ibid. That rule, of course, would permit no habeas review of a state-court sufficiency determination. As we understand it, however, petitioners' proposal would permit limited review for reasonableness, a standard surely consistent with our own statement that that state-court determination "is of course entitled to deference." Ibid. We agree with Justice O'Connor that Jackson itself applied a de novo standard. See post, at 303. Nonetheless, given our statement
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