208
Stevens, J., dissenting
ant has already been found parole ineligible at the exact moment of sentencing. Simmons itself makes this entirely clear. Both aspects of the Virginia Supreme Court's holding, then, applied a "rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in" Simmons.
We also held in Williams that "[a] state-court decision will also be contrary to this Court's clearly established precedent if the state court confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable from a decision of this Court and nevertheless arrives at a result different from our precedent." 529 U. S., at 406. The Virginia Supreme Court's decision was also contrary to Simmons in this respect. Because the "hypothetical future developments" rejected in Simmons are materially indistinguishable from the future possibility here, the Virginia court's decision is contrary to Simmons.
Even assuming the correct rule had been applied, the Virginia Supreme Court's decision would be an "unreasonable application" of Simmons. That court held that the Pizza Hut conviction would count as a strike, but not the Domino's Pizza robbery verdict. The only distinction is the lack of an entry of judgment, and the only reason that matters is because the verdict may be set aside by a post-trial motion. But that possibility remains identical for both crimes. To disregard one of those hypothetical possibilities but not the other based on a state-law distinction that has absolutely no relevance to the probability that the verdict will be set aside is an unreasonable application of Simmons.35
35 Three remaining points should be addressed. First, Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288 (1989), does not bar relief. Teague's antiretroactivity doctrine is irrelevant here, as Simmons was decided before Ramdass' conviction became final. See 187 F. 3d 396, 404, n. 3 (CA4 1999) (case below). Nor is Teague's bar of applying "new rules" on federal habeas review any barrier; because Ramdass' case falls squarely within Simmons, that case controls entirely, and no new rule is necessary.
The second point concerns the plurality's suggestion that Ramdass might have waived his Simmons claim. See ante, at 162-163, 177. It is not necessary to discuss the issue at length. It suffices to note that this
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