340
Rehnquist, C. J., concurring in judgment
If the paragraph about Harris' misconduct in relation to his application, quoted above, had legal significance only if his petition was successive, it would have been superfluous.
To support its view that a stay must be granted if a first federal habeas petition is not dismissed, the Court relies on our decision in Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U. S. 880 (1983). But Barefoot and the present case arose in different contexts. The question presented and decided in Barefoot only addressed how the merits of the habeas petition may determine whether the petitioner obtains a stay. Id., at 887 (announcing the Court was considering "the appropriate standard for granting or denying a stay of execution pending disposition of an appeal by a federal court of appeals by a death-sentenced federal habeas corpus petitioner"); id., at 891 (affirming the denial of a stay because the Court of Appeals "ruled on the merits of [Barefoot's] appeal"). The issue in the present case is quite different: whether a petitioner's course of conduct in seeking the writ may be considered by the district court in deciding whether to grant a stay. To the extent that the Court's reading of Barefoot depends on the belief that a decision on a first federal habeas petition is somehow necessary to validate a state conviction, the Court ignores Barefoot's assertion to the contrary:
"The role of federal habeas proceedings . . . is secondary and limited. Federal courts are not forums in which to relitigate state trials. . . . The procedures adopted to facilitate the orderly consideration and disposition of habeas petitions are not legal entitlements that a defendant has a right to pursue irrespective of the contribution these procedures make toward uncovering constitutional error." Id., at 887-888.
And, contrary to the Court's refusal to consider whether Barefoot's "rationale" might brook a distinction between seasonable and eleventh-hour first habeas petitions, ante, at 321, our opinion warned that federal habeas corpus is not "a
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