Caspari v. Bohlen, 510 U.S. 383, 15 (1994)

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Cite as: 510 U. S. 383 (1994)

Stevens, J., dissenting

spondent a writ of habeas corpus because doing so required the announcement and application of a new rule of constitutional law. Because of our resolution of this case on Teague grounds, we have no occasion to decide whether the Double Jeopardy Clause applies to noncapital sentencing, or whether Missouri's persistent-offender scheme is sufficiently trial-like to invoke double jeopardy protections; nor need we consider the State's contention that Bullington should be overruled. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is

Reversed.

Justice Stevens, dissenting.

The nonretroactivity principle announced in the plurality opinion in Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989), is a judge-made defense that can be waived. Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U. S. 37, 41 (1990). In recent years, the Court has fashioned harsh rules regarding waiver and claim forfeiture to defeat substantial constitutional claims. See, e. g., Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U. S. 722 (1991); Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478 (1986). If we are to apply such a strict approach to waiver in habeas corpus litigation, we should hold the warden to the same standard. Accordingly, given the treatment accorded the private litigant in Izumi Seimitsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha v. U. S. Philips Corp., 510 U. S. 27 (1993) (per curiam), I would hold that petitioner Caspari forfeited his Teague defense under this Court's Rule 14.1(a).

Distinguishing Izumi, the Court explains that the intervention question in that case was "wholly divorced from the question on which we granted review," whereas here the Teague issue "is a necessary predicate to the resolution of the question presented in the petition." Ante, at 389-390. Yet Izumi itself opened by acknowledging that it "would have to address" the intervention issue "[i]n order to reach the merits of this case." 510 U. S., at 28. It is no more "necessary" to answer the Teague question in this case than it was, for example, in Collins, supra.

397

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