88
Opinion of the Court
had that court not decided the procedural default question without giving the parties an opportunity for argument. Pp. 90-92.
94 F. 3d 1005, vacated and remanded.
Breyer, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
Rebecca L. Hudsmith argued the cause and filed briefs for petitioner.
Kathleen E. Petersen, Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, and Mary Ellen Hunley, Assistant Attorney General.*
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
The petitioner in this case, Richard Trest, seeks a writ of habeas corpus, which would vacate a long sentence that he is serving in a Louisiana prison for armed robbery. The District Court refused to issue the writ. Trest appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled against him on the ground of "procedural default." Trest v. Whitley, 94 F. 3d 1005, 1007 (1996). The Fifth Circuit believed that Trest had failed to raise his federal claims on time in state court, that a state court would now refuse to consider his claims for that reason, and that this state procedural reason amounted to an adequate and independent state ground for denying Trest relief. Hence, in the absence of special circumstances, a federal habeas court could not reach the merits of Trest's federal claims. Id., at 1007-1009; see
*Edward M. Chikofsky and Barbara E. Bergman filed a brief for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as amicus curiae urging reversal.
A brief of amici curiae urging affirmance was filed for the State of Mississippi et al. by Mike Moore, Attorney General of Mississippi, Marvin L. White, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, and Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, Special Assistant Attorney General, Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General of Florida, Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General of Montana, and Frankie Sue Del Papa, Attorney General of Nevada.
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