Cite as: 533 U. S. 289 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
beas corpus proceedings brought by aliens challenging Executive interpretations of the immigration laws.29
Habeas courts also regularly answered questions of law that arose in the context of discretionary relief. See, e. g., United States ex rel. Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 347 U. S. 260 (1954); United States ex rel. Hintopoulos v. Shaughnessy, 353 U. S. 72, 77 (1957).30 Traditionally, courts recognized a distinction between eligibility for discretionary relief, on the one hand, and the favorable exercise of discretion, on the other hand. See Neuman, 113 Harv. L. Rev., at 1991 (noting the "strong tradition in habeas corpus law . . . that subjects the legally erroneous failure to exercise discretion, unlike a substantively unwise exercise of discretion, to inquiry on the writ"). Eligibility that was "governed by spe-29 See, e. g., Delgadillo v. Carmichael, 332 U. S. 388, 391 (1947) (rejecting on habeas the Government's interpretation of the statutory term "entry"); Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U. S. 135, 149 (1945) (rejecting on habeas the Government's interpretation of the term "affiliation" with the Communist Party); Kessler v. Strecker, 307 U. S. 22, 35 (1939) (holding that "as the Secretary erred in the construction of the statute, the writ must be granted"). Cf. Mahler v. Eby, 264 U. S. 32, 46 (1924) (reviewing on habeas the question whether the absence of an explicit factual finding that the aliens were "undesirable" invalidated the warrant of deportation).
30 Indeed, under the pre-1952 regime which provided only what Heikkila termed the constitutional minimum of review, on habeas lower federal courts routinely reviewed decisions under the Seventh Proviso, the statutory predecessor to § 212(c), to ensure the lawful exercise of discretion. See, e. g., United States ex rel. Devenuto v. Curran, 299 F. 206 (CA2 1924); Hee Fuk Yuen v. White, 273 F. 10 (CA9 1921); United States ex rel. Patti v. Curran, 22 F. 2d 314 (SDNY 1926); Gabriel v. Johnson, 29 F. 2d 347 (CA1 1928). During the same period, habeas was also used to review legal questions that arose in the context of the Government's exercise of other forms of discretionary relief under the 1917 Act. See, e. g., United States ex rel. Adel v. Shaughnessy, 183 F. 2d 371 (CA2 1950); United States ex rel. Kaloudis v. Shaughnessy, 180 F. 2d 489 (CA2 1950); Mastrapasqua v. Shaughnessy, 180 F. 2d 999 (CA2 1950); United States ex rel. de Sousa v. Day, 22 F. 2d 472 (CA2 1927); Gonzalez-Martinez v. Landon, 203 F. 2d 196 (CA9 1953); United States ex rel. Berman v. Curran, 13 F. 2d 96 (CA3 1926).
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