704
Opinion of the Court
find . . . debatable." Compare App. to Pet. for Cert. A52 (quoting Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U. S. 473, 484 (2000)), with Tr. of Oral Arg. 45-46. We conclude that a certificate of appealability should have issued.
We have twice before referenced Rule 15(b)'s application in federal habeas proceedings. In Harris v. Nelson, 394 U. S. 286, 294, n. 5 (1969), we noted that Rule 15(b)'s use in habeas proceedings is "noncontroversial." In Withrow v. Williams, 507 U. S. 680, 696, and n. 7 (1993), we similarly assumed Rule 15(b)'s application to habeas petitions. There, however, the District Court had granted a writ of habeas corpus on a claim neither pleaded, considered at "an evidentiary hearing," nor "even argu[ed]" by the parties. Id., at 695. Given those circumstances, we held that there had been no trial of the claim by implied consent; the respondent warden, we observed, "was manifestly prejudiced by the District Court's failure to afford her an opportunity to present evidence bearing on th[e] claim's resolution." Id., at 696. Here, in contrast, the issue of the undisclosed Cook interrogation transcript was indeed aired before the Magistrate Judge, and the transcript itself was admitted into evidence without objection. See supra, at 685.19
The Court of Appeals found no authority for equating "an evidentiary hearing . . . with a trial" for Rule 15(b) purposes. App. to Pet. for Cert. A52. We see no reason why an evidentiary hearing should not qualify so long as the respondent gave "any sort of consent" and had a full and fair "opportu-19 See Federal Evidentiary Hearing 56-73. Examining one of Banks's prosecutors, counsel for Banks twice asked if Cook had been "instructed . . . on how to testify." Id., at 56. See also id., at 63-64 ("Texarkana law enforcement did not instruct Mr. Cook how to testify in this case. Is that your testimony today?"). To show that Cook had been coached, Banks's counsel called attention to discrepancies between portions of the September 1980 transcript and Cook's trial testimony. Id., at 65-68. Concluding his examination, Banks's counsel emphasized the prosecution's duty to disclose the September 1980 transcript once Cook, while on the stand, stated that he had not been coached. Id., at 73-74; App. 59; supra, at 677.
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