Cite as: 505 U. S. 277 (1992)
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
adopted nor the necessary means for implementing its holding creates any real conflict with the requirement of de novo review of mixed questions.
In my view, it would be a misreading of Teague to interpret it as resting on the necessity to defer to state-court determinations. Teague did not establish a deferential standard of review of state-court decisions of federal law. It established instead a principle of retroactivity. See Teague v. Lane, supra, at 310 ("[W]e now adopt Justice Harlan's view of retroactivity for cases on collateral review"). To be sure, the fact that our standard for distinguishing old rules from new ones turns on the reasonableness of a state court's interpretation of then existing precedents suggests that federal courts do in one sense defer to state-court determinations. But we should not lose sight of the purpose of the reasonableness inquiry where a Teague issue is raised: The purpose is to determine whether application of a new rule would upset a conviction that was obtained in accordance with the constitutional interpretations existing at the time of the prisoner's conviction.
As we explained earlier this Term:
"When a petitioner seeks federal habeas relief based upon a principle announced after a final judgment, Teague and our subsequent decisions interpreting it require a federal court to answer an initial question, and in some cases a second. First, it must be determined whether the decision relied upon announced a new rule. If the answer is yes and neither exception applies, the decision is not available to the petitioner. If, however, the decision did not announce a new rule, it is necessary to inquire whether granting the relief sought would create a new rule because the prior decision is applied in a novel setting, thereby extending the precedent. The interests in finality, predictability, and comity underlying our new rule jurisprudence may be undermined to an equal degree by the invocation of a rule that was not
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