Cite as: 539 U. S. 510 (2003)
Scalia, J., dissenting
burned his hands as a child, id., at 490—so Schlaich must have investigated sources beyond these reports.
As the Court notes, ante, at 529-530, the Maryland Court of Appeals did not expressly state that counsel's investigation extended beyond the PSI and DSS records. There was no reason whatever to do so, since it had found that "counsel did investigate and were aware of appellant's background," Wiggins, supra, at 610, 724 A. 2d, at 16, and since that finding was based on a state-court record that clearly demonstrates investigation beyond the PSI and DSS reports. The court's failure to recite what is obvious from the record surely provides no basis for believing that it stupidly "assumed" the opposite of what is obvious from the record.
Once one eliminates the Court's mischaracterization of the state-court opinion—which did not and could not have "assumed" that Wiggins' counsel knew only what was contained in the DSS and PSI reports—there is no basis for finding it "unreasonable" to believe that counsel's investigation was adequate. As noted earlier, Schlaich testified in the state postconviction proceedings that he was aware of the essential items contained in the later-prepared "social history" report. He knew that Wiggins was subjected to neglect and abuse from his mother, App. 490, that there were reports of sexual abuse at one of his foster homes, ibid., that his mother had burned his hands as a child, ibid., that a Job Corps supervisor had made homosexual overtures toward him, id., at 490-491, and that Wiggins was " 'borderline' " mentally retarded, id., at 491.2 Schlaich explained that, although he
2 The only incident contained in the "social history" report about which Schlaich did not confirm knowledge was the occurrence of sexual abuse in more than one of Wiggins' foster homes. And that knowledge remained unconfirmed only because the question posed asked him whether he knew of reports of abuse at " 'one' " of the foster homes. App. 490. The record does not show that Schlaich knew of all these incidents in the degree of detail contained in the "social history" report—but it does not show that he did not, either. In short, given Schlaich's testimony, there is no basis
545
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