Cite as: 508 U. S. 333 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
All that remains to be decided is whether this rule falls into one of Teague's exceptions, under which a new rule may be given retroactive effect on collateral review. The first exception applies to those rules that "plac[e] certain kinds of primary, private individual conduct beyond the power of the criminal law-making authority to proscribe." Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S., at 307 (plurality opinion) (internal quotation marks omitted). This exception is clearly inapplicable here, since the rule announced in Falconer does not "decriminalize" any class of conduct. See Saffle v. Parks, supra, at 495. Teague's second exception permits the retroactive application of " 'watershed rules of criminal procedure' implicating the fundamental fairness and accuracy of the criminal proceeding." 494 U. S., at 495 (quoting Teague, supra, at 311). This exception is also inapplicable. Although the Falconer court expressed concern that the jury might have been confused by the instructions in question, we cannot say that its holding falls into that "small core of rules requiring 'observance of those procedures that . . . are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.' " Graham v. Collins, 506 U. S., at 478 (quoting Teague, supra, at 311 (internal quotation marks omitted)).4
Because the rule announced in Falconer is "new" within the meaning of Teague and does not fall into one of Teague's exceptions, it cannot provide the basis for federal habeas
strong evidence of the reasonableness of the interpretations given existing precedent by state courts.
4 Justice Blackmun in dissent would elevate the instructional defect contained in the Illinois pattern jury instructions on murder and voluntary manslaughter not merely to the level of a federal constitutional violation, but to one that is so fundamental as to come within Teague's second exception. He reaches this result by combining several different constitutional principles—the prohibition against ex post facto laws, the right to a fair trial, and the right to remain silent—into an unrecognizable constitutional stew.
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