Cite as: 537 U. S. 322 (2003)
Scalia, J., concurring
357 (CA5 2000).* The Court today disapproves this approach, which improperly resolves the merits of the appeal during the COA stage. Ante, at 331, 335-338. Less clear from the Court's opinion, however, is why a "circuit justice or judge," in deciding whether to issue a COA, must "look to the District Court's application of AEDPA to [a habeas petitioner's] constitutional claims and ask whether that resolution was debatable amongst jurists of reason." Ante, at 336 (emphasis added). How the district court applied AEDPA has nothing to do with whether a COA applicant has made "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right," as required by 28 U. S. C. § 2253(c)(2), so the AEDPA standard should seemingly have no role in the COA inquiry.
Section 2253(c)(2), however, provides that "[a] certificate of appealability may issue . . . only if the applicant has made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." (Emphasis added.) A "substantial showing" does not entitle an applicant to a COA; it is a necessary and not a sufficient condition. Nothing in the text of § 2253(c)(2) prohibits a circuit justice or judge from imposing additional requirements, and one such additional requirement has been approved by this Court. See Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U. S. 473, 484 (2000) (holding that a habeas petitioner seeking to appeal a district court's denial of habeas relief on procedural grounds must not only make a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right but also must demonstrate that jurists of reason would find it debatable whether the district court was correct in its procedural ruling).
The Court today imposes another additional requirement: A circuit justice or judge must deny a COA, even when the habeas petitioner has made a substantial showing that his
*In what can be regarded as a logical development from the error of analyzing a request for a COA like a merits appeal, some courts have simply allowed merits appeals to be taken without a COA—in flat contravention of 28 U. S. C. § 2253(c)(1)(A). See, e. g., Bates v. Lee, 308 F. 3d 411 (CA4 2002).
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