718
Opinion of Scalia, J.
Indeed, as Justice O'Connor notes, this Court's jurisprudence has defined the scope of habeas corpus largely by means of such equitable principles. See ante, at 698-700 (opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part). The use of these principles, which serve as "gateway[s]" through which a habeas petitioner must pass before proceeding to the merits of a constitutional claim, "is grounded in the 'equitable discretion' of habeas courts." Herrera v. Collins, supra, at 404.
II
As the Court today acknowledges, see ante, at 686-687, the rule of Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465 (1976), is simply one application of equitable discretion. It does not deny a federal habeas court jurisdiction over Fourth Amendment claims, but merely holds that the court ought not to entertain them when the petitioner has already had an opportunity to litigate them fully and fairly. See id., at 495, n. 37. It is therefore not correct to say that applying Stone to the present case involves "eliminating review of Miranda claims" from federal habeas, ante, at 693, or that the Court is being "asked to exclude a substantive category of issues from relitigation on habeas," ante, at 700 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). And it is therefore unnecessary to discuss at length the value of Miranda rights, as though it has been proposed that since they are particularly worthless they deserve specially disfavored treatment. The proposed rule would treat Miranda claims no differently from all other claims, taking account of all equitable factors, including the opportunity for full and fair litigation, in determining whether to provide habeas review. Wherein Miranda and Fourth Amendment claims differ from some other claims, is that the most significant countervailing equitable factor (possibility that the assigned error produced the conviction of an innocent person) will ordinarily not exist.
At common law, the opportunity for full and fair litigation of an issue at trial and (if available) direct appeal was not
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