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Opinion of Stevens, J.
of a state court's legal conclusions on habeas, or that a state court's incorrect legal determination has ever been allowed to stand because it was reasonable. We have always held that federal courts, even on habeas, have an independent obligation to say what the law is." 505 U. S., at 305 (opinion concurring in judgment).
We are convinced that in the phrase, "clearly established law," Congress did not intend to modify that independent obligation.
The "contrary to, or an unreasonable application of," requirement
The message that Congress intended to convey by using the phrases "contrary to" and "unreasonable application of" is not entirely clear. The prevailing view in the Circuits is that the former phrase requires de novo review of "pure" questions of law and the latter requires some sort of "reason-ability" review of so-called mixed questions of law and fact. See, e. g., Neelley v. Nagle, 138 F. 3d 917 (CA11 1998); Drink-ard v. Johnson, 97 F. 3d 751 (CA5 1996); Lindh v. Murphy, 96 F. 3d 856 (CA7 1996) (en banc), rev'd on other grounds, 521 U. S. 320 (1997).
We are not persuaded that the phrases define two mutually exclusive categories of questions. Most constitutional questions that arise in habeas corpus proceedings—and therefore most "decisions" to be made—require the federal judge to apply a rule of law to a set of facts, some of which may be disputed and some undisputed. For example, an erroneous conclusion that particular circumstances established the voluntariness of a confession, or that there exists a conflict of interest when one attorney represents multiple defendants, may well be described either as "contrary to" or as an "unreasonable application of" the governing rule of law. Cf. Miller v. Fenton, 474 U. S. 104, 116 (1985); Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U. S. 335, 341-342 (1980). In constitutional adjudication, as in the common law, rules of law often develop
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