Cite as: 512 U. S. 339 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
The language of § 2254 itself permits a state prisoner to seek relief for a violation "of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States." By its own terms, then, § 2254 applies equally to claims of statutory or constitutional violations. When construing the similar language of Rev. Stat. § 1979, 42 U. S. C. § 1983, which permits civil actions against state actors for "deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws" of the United States, we concluded that "the phrase 'and laws,' as used in § 1983, means what it says." Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U. S.
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(a), which commands that every defendant be allowed to make a statement before he is sentenced. 368 U. S., at 429. Similarly, in Timmreck, the Court held that a federal prisoner who did not appeal the validity of his guilty plea could not obtain collateral relief under § 2255 for technical violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11, which requires the court to ask a defendant represented by an attorney whether he wishes to say anything on his own behalf. 441 U. S., at 784.
These cases could also be read narrowly as relying on the habeas petitioner's default on direct review, see n. 6, supra, or as encompassing only violations of procedural rules. But even if read to establish a line between "important" and "merely technical" violations, this line is not identical to the line between statutory and constitutional violations. We made this point clear in Davis v. United States, 417 U. S., at 345-346: "[T]here is no support in the prior holdings of this Court for the proposition that a claim is not cognizable under § 2255 merely because it is grounded in the 'laws of the United States' rather than the Constitution. It is true, of course, that in Sunal v. Large, 332 U. S. 174 (1947), the Court held that the nonconstitutional claim in that case could not be asserted to set aside a conviction on collateral attack. But Sunal was merely an example of 'the general rule . . . that the writ of habeas corpus will not be allowed to do service for an appeal.' . . . Thus, Sunal cannot be read to stand for the broad proposition that nonconstitutional claims can never be asserted in collateral attacks upon criminal convictions. Rather, the implication would seem to be that, absent the particular considerations regarded as dispositive in that case, the fact that a contention is grounded not in the Constitution, but in the 'laws of the United States' would not preclude its assertion in a § 2255 proceeding."
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