Cite as: 517 U. S. 314 (1996)
Rehnquist, C. J., concurring in judgment
means by which a defendant is entitled to delay an execution indefinitely." 463 U. S., at 887.
I nonetheless agree with the Court that the Court of Appeals erred in vacating the stay granted in this case by the District Court. The District Court did not consider whether petitioner's conduct in court constituted misconduct so abusive that it disentitled him to a stay; it focused solely on the likelihood that petitioner's habeas petition might be dismissed. Although the court determined that petitioner had "abused the writ," it did not rely on this finding to deny a stay, correctly concluding that a first habeas petition may not be dismissed on the basis of abuse of the writ. App. 61-62. There was no determination that petitioner's habeas petition could be dismissed under Rule 9(a). There is no other ground under which to dismiss a first petition other than the merits, and the Court of Appeals erred in concluding otherwise.
Although the findings supporting the District Court's determination that petitioner abused the writ would go a long way toward supporting affirmance on the ground that petitioner's misconduct disentitled him to a stay, reversal is still in order. I agree with the Court that petitioner's conduct in the next-friend proceedings "neither aggravate nor mitigate Lonchar's delay in filing." Ante, at 331. Petitioner may not be blamed for having asserted his competence and his control over his habeas claims, because our case law required the District Court to establish as much. See Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U. S. 149, 165 (1990). Nor should he be blamed for his brother's and sister's desire to protect him, although it would be a different case if the record established that his relatives and he were colluding to stay his execution but avoid putting his claims before the court, so as to keep his options open in the future. Because the District Court erred in concluding that petitioner was culpable for the course of the next-friend proceedings and "[i]t is a paradigmatic abuse of discretion for a court to base its judgment on
341
Page: Index Previous 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007