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Opinion of the Court
review of constitutional error that had occurred in the proceedings leading to conviction. See McCleskey, 499 U. S., at 478-479; Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S., at 79. That broadening of the scope of the writ created the risk that repetitious filings by individual petitioners might adversely affect the administration of justice in the federal courts. Such filings also posed a threat to the finality of state-court judgments and to principles of comity and federalism. See, e. g., McCleskey, 499 U. S., at 491; Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, 487 (1986).
To alleviate the increasing burdens on the federal courts and to contain the threat to finality and comity, Congress attempted to fashion rules disfavoring claims raised in second and subsequent petitions. For example, in 1966, Congress amended 28 U. S. C. § 2244(b) "to introduce 'a greater degree of finality of judgments in habeas corpus proceedings.' " Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S., at 450, quoting S. Rep. No. 1797, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., 2 (1966) (Senate Report); see also McCleskey, 499 U. S., at 486. Similarly, in 1976, Congress promulgated Rule 9(b) of the Rules Governing Habeas Corpus Proceedings in part to deal with the problem of repetitive filings.
These same concerns resulted in a number of recent decisions from this Court that delineate the circumstances under which a district court may consider claims raised in a second or subsequent habeas petition. In those decisions, the Court held that a habeas court may not ordinarily reach the merits of successive claims, Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S. 436 (1986), or abusive claims, McCleskey, 499 U. S., at 493, absent a showing of cause and prejudice, see Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72 (1977).34 The application of cause and
34 A " 'successive petition' raises grounds identical to those raised and rejected on the merits on a prior petition." Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S., at 444, n. 6 (plurality opinion). An "abusive petition" occurs "where a prisoner files a petition raising grounds that were available but not relied upon in a prior petition, or engages in other conduct that 'disentitle[s] him
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