Stone v. Powell

Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465 (1976), argued 24 Feb. 1976, decided 6 July 1976 by vote of 6 to 3; Powell for the Court, Burger concurring, Brennan, joined by Marshall, and White in dissent. By an act of Congress (Title 28, sec. 2254, of the U.S. Code), state prisoners may petition a federal court for a writ of habeas corpus and challenge the constitutionality of their state convictions. Generally, a party may not relitigate a matter already presented to or decided by a court. In Brown v. Allen (1953), however, the Court had held that under section 2254 a state prisoner was entitled to a federal court hearing on all federal constitutional issues.

Writing for the majority in Stone v. Powell, Justice Lewis Powell reevaluated this interpretation of the statute and held that Fourth Amendment claims once raised and decided in state court could not be heard again in the federal habeas corpus proceeding when the state had provided an opportunity for a full and fair hearing. Applying a cost‐benefit analysis, Powell argued that the marginal additional deterrence against police misconduct was insufficient to justify excluding evidence and allowing a guilty defendant to go free. This would only undermine respect for the criminal justice system. Concerns for finality and federalism buttressed his conclusion.

The dissenters disagreed. Habeas corpus, they maintained, protects rights of all persons, including the guilty. Lifetime‐tenured federal judges are better situated than state judges to vindicate constitutional rights. Finally, separation‐of‐powers considerations weighed against reinterpreting the long‐standing statutory language.

Proving wrong commentators who predicted a “Stone Age” for the writ of habeas corpus, the Court has squarely refused to add other grounds to the Stone exception for Fourth Amendment claims. In 1996, Congress enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act narrowing federal habeas relief for state prisoners and successive petitions for review, but the statute left the Court's holding intact.

Thomas E. Baker