320
Opinion of the Court
U. S. C. § 2255, though the language of § 2255 contained no reference to an "ends of justice" inquiry. 373 U. S., at 12-15.
We firmly established the importance of the equitable inquiry required by the ends of justice in "a trio of 1986 decisions" handed down on the same day. Sawyer, 505 U. S., at 339 (referring to Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U. S. 436, Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, and Smith v. Murray, 477 U. S. 527). In Kuhlmann, seven Members of this Court squarely rejected the argument that in light of the 1966 amendments, "federal courts no longer must consider the 'ends of justice' before dismissing a successive petition." 477 U. S., at 451 (plurality opinion); id., at 468-471 (Brennan, J., dissenting); id., at 476-477 (Stevens, J., dissenting); see also Sawyer, 505 U. S., at 339 (noting that in Kuhlmann, "[w]e held that despite the removal of [the reference to the ends of justice] from 28 U. S. C. § 2244(b) in 1966, the miscarriage of justice exception would allow successive claims to be heard"). Thus, while recognizing that successive petitions are generally precluded from review, Justice Powell's plurality opinion expressly noted that there are "limited circumstances under which the interests of the prisoner in relitigating constitutional claims held meritless on a prior petition may outweigh the countervailing interests served by according finality to the prior judgment." 477 U. S., at 452. Similarly, writing for the Court in Carrier, Justice O'Connor observed that the Court had adopted the cause and prejudice standard in part because of its confidence that that standard would provide adequate protection to " 'victims of a fundamental miscarriage of justice,' " 477 U. S., at 495-496, quoting Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 135 (1982); however, Justice O'Connor also noted that the Court has candidly refused to "pretend that this will always be true," Carrier, 477 U. S., at 496. For that reason, " '[i]n appropriate cases,' the principles of comity and finality that inform the concepts of cause and prejudice 'must yield to the imperative of correcting a funda-
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