Cite as: 537 U. S. 322 (2003)
Syllabus
clared that § 2254(d)(2) required it to presume state-court findings correct unless it determined that the findings would result in a decision which was unreasonable in light of clear and convincing evidence; and applied this framework to deny petitioner a COA.
Petitioner's extensive evidence concerning the jury selection procedures falls into two broad categories. First, he presented, at the pre-trial Swain hearing, testimony and other evidence relating to a pattern and practice of race discrimination in the voir dire by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, including a 1976 policy by that office to exclude minorities from jury service that was available at least to one of petitioner's prosecutors. Second, two years later, petitioner presented, to the same state trial court, evidence that directly related to the prosecutors' conduct in his case, including a comparative analysis of the venire members demonstrating that African-Americans were excluded from petitioner's jury in a ratio significantly higher than Caucasians; evidence that, during voir dire, the prosecution questioned venire members in a racially disparate fashion as to their death penalty views, their willingness to serve on a capital case, and their willingness to impose the minimum sentence for murder, and that responses disclosing reluctance or hesitation to impose capital punishment or a minimum sentence were cited as a justification for striking potential jurors; and the prose-cution's use of a Texas criminal procedure practice known as "jury shuffling" to assure that white venire members were selected in preference to African-Americans.
Held: The Fifth Circuit should have issued a COA to review the District
Court's denial of habeas relief to petitioner. Pp. 335-348.
(a) Before a prisoner seeking postconviction relief under § 2254 may appeal a district court's denial or dismissal of the petition, he must first seek and obtain a COA from a circuit justice or judge, § 2253. This is a jurisdictional prerequisite. A COA will issue only if § 2253's requirements have been satisfied. When a habeas applicant seeks a COA, the court of appeals should limit its examination to a threshold inquiry into the underlying merit of his claims. E. g., Slack, 529 U. S., at 481. This inquiry does not require full consideration of the factual or legal bases supporting the claims. Consistent with this Court's precedent and the statutory text, the prisoner need only demonstrate "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." § 2253(c)(2). He satisfies this standard by demonstrating that jurists of reason could disagree with the district court's resolution of his case or that the issues presented were adequate to deserve encouragement to proceed further. E. g., id., at 484. He need not convince a judge, or, for that matter, three judges, that he will prevail, but must demonstrate that reasonable
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