308
Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment
dictated by precedent as by the application of an old rule in a manner that was not dictated by precedent." Stringer v. Black, 503 U. S. 222, 227-228 (1992) (citation omitted).
The comity interest is not, however, in saying that since the question is close the state-court decision ought to be deemed correct because we are in no better position to judge. That would be the real thrust of a principle based on deference. We see that principle at work in the statutory requirement that, except in limited circumstances, the federal habeas court must presume the correctness of state-court factual findings. See 28 U. S. C. § 2254(d). See also Rushen v. Spain, 464 U. S. 114, 120 (1983) (per curiam) (noting that "the state courts were in a far better position than the federal courts to answer" a factual question). Deference of this kind may be termed a comity interest, but it is not the comity interest that underlies Teague. The comity interest served by Teague is in not subjecting the States to a regime in which finality is undermined by our changing a rule once thought correct but now understood to be deficient on its own terms. It is in recognition of this principle that we ask whether the decision in question was dictated by precedent. See, e. g., Saffle v. Parks, 494 U. S. 484, 488 (1990).
Teague does bear on applications of law to fact which result in the announcement of a new rule. Whether the prisoner seeks the application of an old rule in a novel setting, see Stringer, supra, at 228, depends in large part on the nature of the rule. If the rule in question is one which of necessity requires a case-by-case examination of the evidence, then we can tolerate a number of specific applications without saying that those applications themselves create a new rule. The rule of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (1979), is an example. By its very terms it provides a general standard which calls for some examination of the facts. The standard is whether any rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt after a review of all
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