ABSTRACT
In Schlup v. Delo, 513 US 298, the US Supreme Court clarified the appropriate standard for overcoming procedural bars on the filing of successive habeas corpus petitions in death penalty cases. Schlup involved a state prison inmate who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a fellow prisoner. Justice Antonin Scalia also wrote in dissent, emphasizing that under existing federal statutes the courts were not required under any circumstances to entertain successive or abusive petitions. Writing for a five-member majority, Justice John Paul Stevens explained that in the interest of finality and comity, the Supreme Court had long upheld procedural bars against multiple filings and abuse of the writ. The inmate in Schlup was entitled to consideration of claims raised in a successive petition if he could demonstrate that a "constitutional violation has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent," thereby creating a "miscarriage of justice."
