Cite as: 533 U. S. 167 (2001)
Breyer, J., dissenting
lateral review," thereby clearly indicating that the phrase applies only to state proceedings.
In fact, this kind of argument, viewed realistically, gets us nowhere. Congress probably picked out "State post-conviction" proceedings from the universe of collateral proceedings and mentioned it separately because state post-conviction proceedings are a salient example of collateral proceedings. But to understand this is not to understand whether the universe from which Congress picked "State post-conviction" proceedings as an example is the universe of all collateral proceedings, or the universe of state collateral proceedings. The statute simply does not say.
Indeed, the majority recognizes that neither the statute's language nor the application of canons of construction is sufficient to resolve the problem. It concedes that the phrase "other collateral review," if construed as "other [state] collateral review," would add little to the coverage that the words "State post-conviction . . . review" would provide in its absence. See ante, at 176 (noting that a state criminal conviction is "by far the most common" basis for seeking federal habeas review). The majority resolves this difficulty by noting that "other collateral review" could also include either review of state civil confinement proceedings or state postconviction review to which a State refers by some other name, such as state "habeas" proceedings. See ante, at 176-177.
But it is difficult to believe that Congress had state civil proceedings in mind, given that other provisions within § 2244 indicate that Congress saw criminal proceedings as its basic subject matter. For instance, the exceptions to the bar against successive petitions in § 2244(d) seem to presume that the petition at issue challenges a criminal conviction. See 28 U. S. C. § 2244(b)(2)(A) (1994 ed., Supp. V) (requiring a "new rule of constitutional law, made retroactive to cases on collateral review by the Supreme Court"); § 2244(b)(2)(B) (requiring new evidence establishing that,
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