Cite as: 505 U. S. 277 (1992)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
Despite our apparent adherence to a standard of de novo habeas review with respect to mixed constitutional questions, we have implicitly questioned that standard, at least with respect to pure legal questions, in our recent retroactivity precedents. In Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302, 313-314 (1989), a majority of this Court endorsed the retroactivity analysis advanced by Justice O'Connor for a plurality in Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989). Under Teague, a habeas petitioner generally cannot benefit from a new rule of criminal procedure announced after his conviction has become final on direct appeal. See id., at 305-310 (opinion of O'Connor, J.). Teague defined a "new" rule as one that was "not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final." Id., at 301 (emphasis in original). In Butler v. McKellar, 494 U. S. 407, 415 (1990), we explained that the definition includes all rules "susceptible to debate among reasonable minds." Thus, if a state court has reasonably rejected the legal claim asserted by a habeas petitioner under existing law, then the claim seeks the benefit of a "new" rule under Butler, and is therefore not cognizable on habeas under Teague. In other words, a federal habeas court "must defer to the state court's decision rejecting the claim unless that decision is patently unreasonable." Butler, supra, at 422 (Brennan, J., dissenting).8
expressly endorsing a notion of at least limited deference, and given that the Jackson petitioner would have lost under either a de novo standard or a reasonableness standard, we cannot agree that the case "expressly rejected" the latter. Post, at 303.
8 Justice O'Connor suggests that Teague and its progeny "did not establish a standard of review at all." Post, at 303-304. Instead, she contends, these cases merely prohibit the retroactive application of new rules on habeas, ibid., and establish the criterion for distinguishing new rules from old ones, ibid. We have no difficulty with describing Teague as a case about retroactivity, rather than standards of review, although we do not dispute Justice O'Connor's suggestion that the difference, at least in practice, might well be "only 'a matter of phrasing.' " Post, at 304 (cita-
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