Cite as: 522 U. S. 87 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
ters which arguably are relevant to the question whether the law permitted the Fifth Circuit to raise a procedural default sua sponte. The parties disagree, for example, about whether or not Trest has fully, or partially, exhausted his current federal claims by raising them in state court. Cf. Rose v. Lundy, supra, at 518-520. They disagree about whether Louisiana has waived any "nonexhaustion" defense. Cf. Granberry v. Greer, supra. They consequently disagree about whether this is, or is not, the kind of case in which a federal court might rely upon the existence of a state "procedural bar" despite the failure of any state court to assert one. See Coleman v. Thompson, supra, at 735, n.
The parties also seem to disagree about which State's procedural rules are relevant. Trest's federal claims focus upon the 35-year sentence of imprisonment that the Louisiana court imposed (under a Louisiana "habitual offender" law) in light of his earlier convictions in Mississippi for burglary. Trest argued that those earlier convictions were constitutionally invalid because they rested upon a guilty plea which he says the Mississippi court accepted without having first told him about his rights to appeal, to trial by jury, to confront witnesses, and not to incriminate himself. Cf. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U. S. 238, 242-244 (1969); State v. Robicheaux, 412 So. 2d 1313, 1316-1317 (La. 1982). The Fifth Circuit did not reach the merits of Trest's claims because it believed that the Mississippi courts would have barred any challenge to his Mississippi convictions as a challenge that, under state law, came too late in the day. See Miss. Code Ann. § 99-39-5(2) (1994). Trest, and amici supporting him, state that the relevant procedural law (for the purposes of the "procedural default" doctrine) is that of Louisiana, rather than that of Mississippi, for it is Louisiana, not Mississippi, which holds Trest in custody. And it is not clear whether Mississippi's procedural law would create a "default" that would bar federal courts from considering whether Louisi-
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