Cite as: 531 U. S. 225 (2001)
Per Curiam
mit." Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 35, § 6018.401(a) (Purdon 1993); see Commonwealth v. Fiore, CC No. 8508740 (Ct. Common Pleas, Allegheny Cty., Pa., Jan. 19, 1988), App. 6. The Commonwealth conceded that Fiore in fact had a permit, but argued that Fiore had deviated so dramatically from the permit's terms that he nonetheless had violated the statute. And the Commonwealth's lower courts agreed. See id., at 43-44; Commonwealth v. Fiore, 391 Pa. Super. 634, 563 A. 2d 189 (1989) (affirming Fiore's conviction on the trial court's reasoning).
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to review Fiore's case, Commonwealth v. Fiore, 525 Pa. 577, 575 A. 2d 109 (1990), and his conviction became final. Thereafter, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to review the conviction of Fiore's co-defendant, David Scarpone, convicted of the same crime at the same time. The Supreme Court reversed Scarpone's conviction on the ground that the statute meant what it said: The statute made it unlawful to operate a facility without a permit; one who deviated from his permit's terms was not a person without a permit; hence, a person who deviated from his permit's terms did not violate the statute. Commonwealth v. Scarpone, 535 Pa. 273, 279, 634 A. 2d 1109, 1112 (1993) (describing the Commonwealth's interpretation as "a bald fiction we cannot endorse").
Fiore, unsuccessful in his subsequent state-court attempts to have his own conviction set aside, see Commonwealth v. Fiore, 445 Pa. Super. 401, 665 A. 2d 1185 (1995), appeal denied, Commonwealth v. Fiore, 544 Pa. 623, 675 A. 2d 1243 (1996), brought a federal habeas corpus action. The District Court granted the writ, but the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed. 149 F. 3d 221 (1998). The Court of Appeals believed that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in Scarpone's case, had announced a new rule of law, inapplicable to Fiore's already final conviction. Id., at 227. And, the Court of Appeals said, "state courts are under no [federal] constitutional obligation to apply their decisions retroac-
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