A reasoning-process review model for federal habeas corpus.

For more than a hundred judges and commentators have debated the standard of review applied in federal habeas corpus cases, i.e. collateral attacks upon state criminal convictions in federal court. (1) Prior to 1996 the federal statute creating habeas jurisdiction did not specify a step of scrutiny, and the standard applied by the agency of the courts varied over time in vaguely articulated ways untethered to the statutory language. (2) In 1996 Congres enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which, for the first time, explicitly included a standard of review. (3) It permits a federal habeas court to grant the writ