Cite as: 529 U. S. 362 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." (Emphases added.)
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit properly accorded both the "contrary to" and "unreasonable application" clauses independent meaning. The Fourth Circuit's interpretation of § 2254(d)(1) in Williams' case relied, in turn, on that court's previous decision in Green v. French, 143 F. 3d 865 (1998), cert. denied, 525 U. S. 1090 (1999). See 163 F. 3d 860, 866 (CA4 1998) ("[T]he standard of review enunciated in Green v. French continues to be the binding law of this Circuit"). With respect to the first of the two statutory clauses, the Fourth Circuit held in Green that a state-court decision can be "contrary to" this Court's clearly established precedent in two ways. First, a state-court decision is contrary to this Court's precedent if the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by this Court on a question of law. Second, a state-court decision is also contrary to this Court's precedent if the state court confronts facts that are materially indistinguishable from a relevant Supreme Court precedent and arrives at a result opposite to ours. See 143 F. 3d, at 869-870.
The word "contrary" is commonly understood to mean "diametrically different," "opposite in character or nature," or "mutually opposed." Webster's Third New International Dictionary 495 (1976). The text of § 2254(d)(1) therefore suggests that the state court's decision must be substantially different from the relevant precedent of this Court. The Fourth Circuit's interpretation of the "contrary to" clause accurately reflects this textual meaning. A state-court decision will certainly be contrary to our clearly established precedent if the state court applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in our cases. Take, for example, our decision in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984). If a state court were to reject a prisoner's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on the grounds that the
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