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Scalia, J., dissenting
fers from the gatekeeping statute at issue in House in a crucial respect: when House was decided, claimants could seek certificates of probable cause only from "the United States court by which the final decision was rendered or a judge of the circuit court of appeals," 28 U. S. C. § 466 (1940 ed.), whereas § 102 of AEDPA permits claimants to seek COA's from a "circuit justice or judge." Because petitioner may obtain the relief he seeks from a circuit justice, relief under the All Writs Act is not "necessary."
Relief under the Act is also not "appropriate." The only circumstance alleged by petitioner to justify relief is that the Eighth Circuit erroneously concluded that he failed to present a substantial constitutional question. There is nothing "exceptional" about this claim; it is in fact the same claim available to every petitioner when a COA is denied, and entertaining it would render application for this "extraordi-nary" writ utterly routine. Issuance of the writ is not "appropriate" for another reason as well: It would frustrate the purpose of AEDPA, which is to prevent review unless a COA is granted. "Where a statute specifically addresses the particular issue at hand, it is that authority, and not the All Writs Act, that is controlling. Although that Act empowers federal courts to fashion extraordinary remedies when the need arises, it does not authorize them to issue ad hoc writs whenever compliance with statutory procedures appears inconvenient or less appropriate." Pennsylvania Bureau of Correction v. United States Marshals Service, 474 U. S. 34, 43 (1985).4
* * *
The purpose of AEDPA is not obscure. It was to eliminate the interminable delays in the execution of state and federal criminal sentences, and the shameful overloading of
4 Because petitioner has not demonstrated that issuance of the writ is "necessary" or "appropriate" under § 1651, I need not discuss whether it fails the further requirement that it be "in aid of" our jurisdiction.
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