Cite as: 538 U. S. 500 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
lateral review. See, e. g., United States v. Galloway, supra, at 1241 ("threat of . . . procedural bar has doubtless resulted in many claims being asserted on direct appeal only to protect the record . . . unnecessarily burden[ing] both the parties and the court . . ."). This concern is far from speculative. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in light of its rule applying procedural default to ineffective-assistance claims, has urged counsel to "err on the side of inclusion on direct appeal," Billy-Eko, 8 F. 3d, at 116.
On collateral review, the Second Circuit's rule would cause additional inefficiencies. Under that rule a court on collateral review must determine whether appellate counsel is "new." Questions may arise, for example, about whether a defendant has retained new appellate counsel when different lawyers in the same law office handle trial and appeal. The habeas court also must engage in a painstaking review of the trial record solely to determine if it was sufficient to support the ineffectiveness claim and thus whether it should have been brought on direct appeal. A clear rule allowing these claims to be brought in a proceeding under § 2255, by contrast, will eliminate these requirements. Although we could "require the parties and the district judges to search for needles in haystacks—to seek out the rare claim that could have been raised on direct appeal, and deem it waived," Guinan, 6 F. 3d, at 475 (Easterbrook, J., concurring)—we do not see the wisdom in requiring a court to spend time on exercises that, in most instances, will produce no benefit. It is a better use of judicial resources to allow the district court on collateral review to turn at once to the merits.
The most to be said for the rule in the Second Circuit is that it will speed resolution of some ineffective-assistance claims. For the reasons discussed, however, we think few such claims will be capable of resolution on direct appeal and thus few will benefit from earlier resolution. And the benefits of the Second Circuit's rule in those rare instances are outweighed by the increased judicial burden the rule would
507
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