Cite as: 537 U. S. 322 (2003)
Thomas, J., dissenting
tinguishable from AEDPA's for these purposes), courts concluded that § 2254(e)(1)'s predecessor applied directly to the CPC proceeding, without any filtering through the "debatability" standard the Court has used in both the CPC and COA contexts. See, e. g., Barnard v. Collins, 13 F. 3d 871, 876-877 (CA5 1994); Cordova v. Collins, 953 F. 2d 167, 169 (CA5 1992). These cases support the straightforward notion that § 2254(e)(1), like its predecessor did with respect to CPC proceedings, applies directly to the COA proceeding.
The Court's decision in Hohn, supra, which holds that the COA determination constitutes a "case" in the court of appeals for purposes of this Court's jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. § 1254, is not to the contrary. Hohn does not hold, nor does its logic require, that the COA determination be regarded as separate from the rest of the habeas proceeding. In fact, Hohn rejected the proposition that "a request to proceed before a court of appeals should be regarded as a threshold inquiry separate from the merits . . . ." 524 U. S., at 246 (emphasis added). Indeed, Hohn analogized the COA to the filing of a notice of appeal, id., at 247, which in the civil context all would consider to be part of the same "proceeding" ("instituted by" a complaint) as the trial and merits appeal.
B
The Court also errs, albeit in dicta, when it implies that delayed state factfinding—here the two years between voir dire and the post-trial Batson hearing 2—is an excuse for
issue, made by a State court of competent jurisdiction . . . shall be presumed to be correct, unless the applicant shall establish or it shall otherwise appear, or the respondent shall admit [enumerated exceptions omitted]. . . . And in an evidentiary hearing . . . the burden shall rest upon the applicant to establish by convincing evidence that the factual determination by the State court was erroneous."
2 Not all the factfinding was so hindered. Prosecutors gave reasons for 2 of the 10 strikes of black veniremen at the post-trial Batson hearing. One of those, Joe Warren, is at issue here. App. 856-860.
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