Cite as: 512 U. S. 849 (1994)
Thomas, J., dissenting
death sentence." Jackson v. Vasquez, 1 F. 3d 885, 888 (1993) (emphasis added). It might well be a wise and generous policy for the Government to provide prisoners appointed counsel prior to the filing of a habeas petition, but that is not a policy declared by Congress in the terms of § 848(q)(4)(B).
Implicit in the Court's analysis is the assumption that it would be unthinkable for Congress to grant an entitlement to appointed counsel, but to have that entitlement attach only upon the filing of a habeas petition. The Court suggests that its interpretation is required because it is "the only one that gives meaning to the statute as a practical matter." Ante, at 855 (emphasis added). Any other interpretation, according to the Court, would "requir[e] an indi-gent capital petitioner to proceed without counsel in order to obtain counsel." Ante, at 856. Yet under the interpretation of § 848(q)(4)(B) I have outlined above, Congress has not required death-sentenced prisoners to proceed without counsel during the preapplication period; rather, it has merely concluded that such prisoners would proceed without counsel funded under § 848(q)(4)(B).
Moreover, leaving prisoners without counsel appointed under § 848(q)(4)(B) during the preapplication period would be fully reasonable. Congress was no doubt aware that alternative sources of funding for preapplication legal assistance exist for death-sentenced prisoners. Petitioner, for example, is represented by the Texas Resource Center, which has been "designated . . . a Community Defender Organization in accordance with 18 U. S. C. § 3006A for the purpose of providing representation, assistance, information, and other related services to eligible persons and appointed attorneys in connection with" federal habeas corpus cases arising from capital convictions. Brief for Petitioner 4, n. 3 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The center, which is "funded primarily by a grant from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts," id., at 5, n. 4, became involved in petitioner's case soon after his conviction was affirmed
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