Cite as: 505 U. S. 277 (1992)
Souter, J., concurring in judgment
(1990). Or, put differently yet again, if "reasonable jurists [might have] disagree[d]" about the steps the law would take next, its later development will not be grounds for relief. Sawyer v. Smith, supra, at 234; see also Butler, supra, at 415 ("susceptible to debate among reasonable minds").
The Teague line of cases reflects recognition of important "interests of comity and finality." Teague, supra, at 308 (plurality opinion). One purpose of federal collateral review of judgments rendered by state courts in criminal cases is to create an incentive for state courts to " ' "conduct their proceedings in a manner consistent with established constitutional standards," ' " Butler, supra, at 413 (quoting Teague, supra, at 306 (plurality opinion)), and "[t]he 'new rule' principle" recognizes that purpose by "validat[ing] reasonable, good-faith interpretations of existing precedents made by state courts even though they are shown to be contrary to later decisions." Butler, supra, at 414 (citing United States v. Leon, 468 U. S. 897, 918-919 (1984)).
The crux of the analysis when Teague is invoked, then, is
identification of the rule on which the claim for habeas relief depends. To survive Teague, it must be "old" enough to have predated the finality of the prisoner's conviction, and specific enough to dictate the rule on which the conviction may be held to be unlawful. A rule old enough for Teague may of course be too general, and while identifying the required age of the rule of relief is a simple matter of comparing dates, passing on its requisite specificity calls for analytical care.
The proper response to a prisoner's invocation of a rule at too high a level of generality is well illustrated by our cases. In Butler, supra, for example, the prisoner relied on the rule of Arizona v. Roberson, 486 U. S. 675 (1988), which we announced after Butler's conviction had become final. We held in Roberson that the Fifth Amendment forbids police interrogation about a crime after the suspect requests counsel, even if his request occurs in the course of investigating a
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