Cite as: 529 U. S. 362 (2000)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
Brief for California et al. as Amici Curiae 6 (quoting Butler v. McKellar, 494 U. S. 407, 414 (1990)). The position has been bolstered with references to our statements elucidating the "new rule" inquiry as one turning on whether "reasonable jurists" would agree the rule was not clearly established. Sawyer v. Smith, 497 U. S. 227, 234 (1990). This presumption of deference was in essence the position taken by three Members of this Court in Wright, 505 U. S., at 290- 291 (opinion of Thomas, J.) ("[A] federal habeas court 'must defer to the state court's decision rejecting the claim unless that decision is patently unreasonable' ") (quoting Butler, 494 U. S., at 422 (Brennan, J., dissenting)).
Teague, however, does not extend this far. The often repeated language that Teague endorses "reasonable, good-faith interpretations" by state courts is an explanation of policy, not a statement of law. The Teague cases reflect this Court's view that habeas corpus is not to be used as a second criminal trial, and federal courts are not to run roughshod over the considered findings and judgments of the state courts that conducted the original trial and heard the initial appeals. On the contrary, we have long insisted that federal habeas courts attend closely to those considered decisions, and give them full effect when their findings and judgments are consistent with federal law. See Thompson v. Keohane, 516 U. S. 99, 107-116 (1995). But as Justice O'Connor explained in Wright:
"[T]he duty of the federal court in evaluating whether a rule is 'new' is not the same as deference; . . . Teague does not direct federal courts to spend less time or effort scrutinizing the existing federal law, on the ground that they can assume the state courts interpreted it properly. . . .
"[T]he maxim that federal courts should 'give great weight to the considered conclusions of a coequal state judiciary' . . . does not mean that we have held in the past that federal courts must presume the correctness
383
Page: Index Previous 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007