Metrish v. Lancaster

On April 23, 1993, respondent Burt Lancaster, a former police officer with a long history of severe mental-health problems, shot and killed his girlfriend. At his 1994 jury trial in Michigan state court, Lancaster asserted a defense of diminished capacity. Under then-prevailing Michigan Court of Appeals precedent, the diminished-capacity defense permitted a legally sane defendant to present evidence of mental illness to negate the specific intent required to commit a particular crime. Apparently unpersuaded by Lancaster's defense, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder and a related firearm offense. Lancaster, however, later obtained federal habeas relief from these convictions.

By the time of Lancaster's retrial, the Michigan Supreme Court had rejected the diminished-capacity defense in its 2001 decision in Carpenter. Although the murder with which Lancaster was charged occurred several years before Carpenter was decided, the judge at his second trial applied Carpenter and therefore disallowed renewal of his diminished-capacity defense. Lancaster was the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected Lancaster's argument that the trial court's retroactive application of Carpenter violated due process.

Lancaster reasserted his due process claim in a federal habeas petition. The District Court denied the petition, but the Sixth Circuit reversed. Concluding that the Michigan Supreme Court's 2001 rejection of the diminished-capacity defense was unforeseeable in April 1993, when Lancaster killed his girlfriend, the Sixth Circuit held that, by rejecting Lancaster's due process claim, the Michigan Court of Appeals had unreasonably applied clearly established federal law.

Held: Lancaster is not entitled to federal habeas relief. Pp. 357-368, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 996-1002.

(a) Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Lancaster may obtain federal habeas relief only if the Michigan Court of Appeals, in rejecting his due process claim, unreasonably applied “clearly established Federal law, as determined by [this] Court.” 28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1). This standard is “difficult to meet”: Lancaster must show that the Michigan Court of Appeals' decision rested on “an error demanding standard, the Court first considers two key decisions: Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894, and Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. It then considers whether the Michigan Court of Appeals' decision qualifies as an unreasonable application of those decisions to Lancaster's case. Pp. 357-358, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 996.

(b) Bouie concerned African-American petitioners who had refused to leave a South Carolina drug, store's whites-only restaurant area after entering without notice that the store's policy barred their entry. They were convicted under a South Carolina trespass statute prohibiting “ 'entry upon the lands of another . . . after notice from the owner or tenant prohibiting such entry.' ” 378 U.S., at 349-350, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894. The South Carolina Supreme Court based its affirmance of the petitioners' convictions on its prior decision in Mitchell, where the court held that the trespass statute reached both unauthorized entries and “the act of remaining on the premises of another after receiving notice to leave.” 378 U.S., at 350, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894. Mitchell, however, was rendered 21 months after the petitioners' arrest. This Court held that the Due Process Clause prohibited Mitchell's retroactive application to the Bouie petitioners, stressing that Mitchell's interpretation of the state trespass statute was “clearly at variance with the statutory language” and “ha[d] not the slightest support in prior South Carolina decisions.” 378 U.S., at 356, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894.

In Rogers, the petitioner contested the Tennessee Supreme Court's retroactive abolition of the common-law “year and a day rule,” which barred a murder conviction “unless [the] victim had died by the defendant's act within a year and a day of the act.” 532 U.S., at 453, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. This Court found no due process violation. “[J]udicial outdated relic of the common law,” had been routinely rejected by modern courts and legislators, and had been mentioned in reported Tennessee decisions “only three times, and each time in dicta.” Id., at 462-464, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. Pp. 358-361, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 996-998.

(c) The Michigan Court of Appeals' rejection of Lancaster's due process claim does not represent an unreasonable application of the law this Court declared in Bouie and Rogers. Pp. 361-368, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 998-1002.

(1) The Michigan Court of Appeals first recognized the diminished-capacity defense in 1973. Two years later, the Michigan Legislature prescribed comprehensive requirements for defenses based on mental illness or retardation. In 1978, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the diminished-capacity defense fit within the codified definition of insanity. The Michigan Supreme Court's 2001 decision in Carpenter, however, rejected that position, holding that the diminished-capacity defense was not encompassed within the Michigan Legislature's comprehensive scheme for mental-illness defenses and thus could not be invoked by criminal defendants. Pp. 361-365, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 998-1001.

of a controlling statute. Fairminded jurists could conclude that a state supreme court decision of that order is not “ 'unexpected and indefensible by reference to [existing] law.' ” Id., at 462, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. Pp. 365-368, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 1001-1002.

683 F. 3d 740, reversed.

Ginsburg, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.

Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Burt Lancaster was convicted in Michigan state court of first-degree murder and a related firearm offense. At the time the crime was committed, Michigan’s intermediate appellate court had repeatedly recognized “diminished capacity” as a defense negating the mens rea element of first-degree murder. By the time of Lancaster’s trial and conviction, however, the Michigan Supreme Court in People v. Carpenter, 464 Mich. 223, 627 N.W.2d 276 (2001), had rejected the defense. Lancaster asserts that retroactive application of the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter denied him due process of law. On habeas review, a federal court must assess a claim for that the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erred in granting him federal habeas relief.

I

On April 23, 1993, Lancaster, a former police officer with a long history of severe mental-health problems, shot and killed his girlfriend in a shopping-plaza parking lot. At his 1994 jury trial in Michigan state court, Lancaster admitted that he had killed his girlfriend but asserted insanity and diminished-capacity defenses. Under then-prevailing Michigan Court of Appeals precedent, a defendant who pleaded diminished capacity, although he was legally sane, could “offer evidence of some mental abnormality to negate the specific intent required to commit a particular crime.” Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 232, 627 N.W.2d, at 280. If a defendant succeeded in showing that mental illness prevented him from “form[ing] the specific state of mind required as an essential element of a crime,” he could “be convicted only of a lower grade of the offense not requiring that particular mental element.” Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted).

Apparently unpersuaded by Lancaster’s defenses, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder, in violation of Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §750.316 (West 1991), and possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony, in violation of §750.227b (West Cum. Supp. 2004). Lancaster later obtained federal habeas relief from these convictions, however, because, in conflict with Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S. Ct. 1712, 90 L. Ed. 2d 69 (1986), the prosecutor had exercised a race-based peremptory challenge to remove a potential juror. See Lancaster v. Adams, 324 F. 3d 423 (CA6 2003).

As relevant here, a homicide constitutes first-degree murder under Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §750.316 if it is “wil[l]ful, deliberate, and premeditated.”

Lancaster was retried in 2005. By that time, the Michigan Supreme Court had disapproved the “series of [Michigan Court of Appeals] decisions” recognizing the diminished- In rejecting the defense, Michigan’s high court observed that, in 1975, the Michigan Legislature had enacted “a comprehensive statutory scheme concerning defenses based on either mental illness or mental retardation.” Id., at 236, 627 N.W.2d, at 282. That scheme, the Michigan Supreme Court concluded, “demonstrate[d] the Legislature’s intent to preclude the use of any evidence of a defendant’s lack of mental capacity short of legal insanity to avoid or reduce criminal responsibility.” Ibid.

Although the murder with which Lancaster was charged occurred several years before the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter, the judge presiding at Lancaster’s second trial applied Carpenter’s holding and therefore disallowed renewal of Lancaster’s diminished-capacity defense. Following a bench trial, Lancaster was again convicted. The trial court imposed a sentence of life imprisonment for the first-degree murder conviction and a consecutive two-year sentence for the related firearm offense.

Lancaster appealed, unsuccessfully, to the Michigan Court of Appeals. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 76a-78a. The appeals court rejected Lancaster’s argument that retroactive application of Carpenter to “[D]ue process concerns prevent retroactive application [of judicial decisions] in some cases,” the court acknowledged, “especially . . . where the decision is unforeseeable and has the effect of changing existing law.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 77a. But Carpenter “did not involve a change in the law,” the Court of Appeals reasoned, “because it concerned an unambiguous statute that was interpreted by the [Michigan] Supreme Court for the first time.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 77a.

After the Michigan Supreme Court declined review, Lancaster reasserted his due process claim in a federal habeas petition filed under 28 U.S.C. §2254. The District Court denied the petition, 735 F. Supp. 2d 750 (ED Mich. 2010), but it granted a certificate of appealability, see 28 U.S.C. §2253(c).

A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit reversed. 683 F. 3d 740 (2012). The Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter was unforeseeable, the Court of Appeals majority concluded, given (1) the Michigan Court of Appeals’ consistent recognition of the diminished-capacity defense; (2) the Michigan Supreme Court’s repeated references to the defense without casting a shadow of was entitled to a new trial at which he could present his diminished-capacity defense. Id., at 754. Dissenting, Chief Judge Batchelder concluded that the “Michigan Court of Appeals[’] denial of Lancaster’s due process claim was reasonable . . . because the diminished-capacity defense was not well-established in Michigan and its elimination was, therefore, foreseeable.” Id., at 755.

This Court granted certiorari. 568 U.S. 1140, 133 S. Ct. 978, 184 L. Ed. 2d 758 (2013).

II

To obtain federal habeas relief under AEDPA’s strictures, Lancaster must establish that, in rejecting his due process claim, the Michigan Court of Appeals unreasonably applied federal law clearly established in our decisions. See 28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1). This standard, we have explained, is state prisoner must show that the challenged state-court ruling rested on “an error well understood and comprehended in existing law beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement.” Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 102-103, 131 S. Ct. 770, 178 L. Ed. 2d 624, 641 (2011). To determine whether Lancaster has satisfied that demanding standard, we consider first two of this Court’s key decisions: Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894 (1964), and Rogers v. Tennessee, 532 U.S. 451, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697 (2001). We then consider whether the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision qualifies as an unreasonable application of those decisions to the particular circumstances of Lancaster’s case.

Title 28 U.S.C. §2254(d) provides that where, as here, a state prisoner’s habeas claim “was adjudicated on the merits in State court,” a federal court may not grant relief with respect to that claim unless the state court’s adjudication of the claim (1) “resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States,” or (2) “resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.” Lancaster does not allege that the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision “was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts” in his case, nor does he develop any argument that the state court’s decision was “contrary to” this Court’s precedents. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 412-413, 120 S. Ct. 1495, 146 L. Ed. 2d 389 (2000) (a state-court decision is “contrary to” clearly established federal law if “the state court arrives at a conclusion opposite to that reached by this Court on a question of law or if the state court decides a case differently than this Court has on a set of materially indistinguishable facts”). The only question in this case, therefore, is whether the Michigan Court of Appeals unreasonably applied “clearly established [f]ederal law, as determined by [this] Court.” 28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1).

Lancaster does not argue that the Michigan Supreme Court’s rejection of the diminished-capacity defense in People v. Carpenter, 464 Mich. 223, 627 N.W.2d 276 (2001), if applied only prospectively to defendants whose alleged offenses were committed after the decision was issued, would violate any constitutional provision. See Clark v. Arizona, 548 U.S. 735, 756-779, 126 S. Ct. 2709, 165 L. Ed. 2d 842 (2006) (rejecting due process challenge to Arizona’s restrictions on mental-disease and capacity evidence offered to negate mens rea). We therefore address only whether the Michigan Court of Appeals unreasonably applied clearly established federal law in upholding Carpenter’s retroactive application to Lancaster’s case.

A

In Bouie, the African-American petitioners were convicted of trespass under South Carolina law after they refused the South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the petitioners’ convictions based on its prior decision in Charleston v. Mitchell, 239 S. C. 376, 123 S. E. 2d 512 (1961). Bouie, 378 U.S., at 350, n. 2, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894. The Mitchell decision, which the South Carolina Supreme Court found dispositive, was rendered 21 months after the petitioners’ arrest. 378 U.S., at 348, 350, n. 2, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894. Mitchell held that the trespass statute under which the petitioners were convicted reached not only unauthorized entries; it proscribed as well “the act of remaining on the premises of another after receiving notice to leave.” 378 U.S., at 350, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894.

We held that the Due Process Clause prohibited Mitchell’s retroactive application to the Bouie petitioners. In so ruling, we stressed that Mitchell’s interpretation of the South Carolina trespass statute was “clearly at variance with the statutory language” and “ha[d] not the slightest support in prior South Carolina decisions.” 378 U.S., at 356, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894. Due process, we said, does not countenance an “unforeseeable and retroactive judicial expansion of narrow and precise statutory language.” Id., at 352, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894.

In Rogers, the petitioner contested the Tennessee Supreme Court’s retroactive abolition of of a common law doctrine of criminal law,” we therefore held, “violates the principle of fair warning, and hence must not be given retroactive effect, only where [the alteration] is ‘unexpected and indefensible by reference to the law which had been expressed prior to the conduct in issue.’” Id., at 462, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697 (quoting Bouie, 378 U.S., at 354, 84 S. Ct. 1697, 12 L. Ed. 2d 894).

Judged by this standard, we explained, the retroactive abolition of the year and a day rule encountered no constitutional impediment. First, the rule was “widely viewed as an outdated relic of the common law” and had been “legislatively or judicially abolished in the vast majority of jurisdictions recently to have addressed the issue.” Rogers, 532 U.S., at 462-463, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. Second, the rule “had only the most tenuous foothold” in Tennessee, having been mentioned in reported Tennessee decisions “only three times, and each time in dicta.” Id., at 464, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. Abolishing the obsolete rule in Rogers’ case, we were satisfied, was not “the sort of unfair and arbitrary judicial action against which the Due Process Clause aims to protect.” Id., at 466-467, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697.

B

1

Does the Michigan Court of Appeals’ rejection of Lancaster’s due process claim represent an unreasonable application of the law we declared in Bouie and Rogers? Addressing that question, we first summarize the history of the diminished-capacity defense in Michigan.

The Michigan Court of Appeals first recognized the defense in People v. Lynch, 47 Mich. App. 8, 208 N.W.2d 656 (1973). See Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 233, 627 N.W.2d, at 281. The defendant in Lynch was convicted of first-degree murder for starving her newborn daughter. 47 Mich. App., at 9, 208 N.W.2d, at 656. On appeal, the defendant challenged the trial court’s exclusion of psychiatric testimony “bearing on [her] state of mind.” Id., at 14, 208 N.W.2d, at 659. She sought to introduce this evidence not to show she was legally insane at the time of her child’s death. Id., at 20-21, 208 N.W.2d, at 662-663. See also id., at 20, 208 N.W.2d, at 662 (noting that “such medical proof” is “sometimes called proof of diminished or partial responsibility”).

At the time of Lynch, Michigan courts used a two-part test for insanity derived from the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Durfee, 62 Mich. 487, 494, 29 N. W. 109, 112 (1886). The Durfee test asked “1) whether defendant knew what he was doing was right or wrong; and 2) if he did, did he have the power, the will power, to resist doing the wrongful act?” People v. Martin, 386 Mich. 407, 418, 192 N.W.2d 215, 220 (1971). See also Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 234, n. 7, 627 N.W.2d, at 281, n. 7.

In 1975, two years after the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision in is legally insane if, as a result of mental illness . . . or . . . mental retardation . . . that person lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.” Id., at 386 (codified as amended, Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §768.21a(1) (West 2000)). The legislature required defendants in felony cases to notify the prosecution and the court at least 30 days before trial of their intent to assert an insanity defense. 1975 Mich. Pub. Acts p. 385 (codified as amended, §768.20a(1)). Defendants raising an insanity defense, the legislature further provided, must submit to a court-ordered psychiatric examination. Id., at 385 (codified as amended, §768.20a(2)).

The 1975 Act also introduced the verdict of “guilty but mentally ill” for defendants who suffer from mental illness but do not satisfy the legal definition of insanity. Id., at 387 (codified as amended, §768.36(1) (West Cum. Supp. 2013)). The legislature provided for the psychiatric evaluation and treatment of defendants found “guilty but mentally ill” but did not exempt them from the sentencing provisions applicable to defendants without mental illness. Id., at 387-388 (codified as amended, §§768.36(3)-(4)).

Although the 1975 Act did not specifically address the defense of diminished capacity, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in 1978 that the defense “comes within th[e] codified definition of legal insanity.” People v. Mangiapane, 85 Mich. App. 379, 395, 271 N.W.2d 240, 249. Therefore, the court held, a defendant claiming that he lacked the “mental capacity to entertain the specific intent required as an element of the crime with which he [was] charged” had to comply with the statutory procedural requirements applicable to insanity defenses, including the requirements of pretrial notice and submission to court-ordered examination. Ibid.

Because the 1975 Act did not indicate which party bears the burden of proof on the issue of insanity, Michigan courts continued to apply the common-law burden-shifting framework in effect at the time of the insanity defense’s codification. See People v. McRunels, 237 Mich. App. 168, 172, 603 N.W.2d 95, 98 (1999). Under that framework, a criminal defendant bore the initial burden of presenting some evidence of insanity, at which point the burden a reasonable doubt. See In re Duffy, 425 Mich. 457, 465-466, 390 N.W.2d 620, 623-624 (1986); People v. Savoie, 419 Mich. 118, 126, 349 N.W.2d 139, 143 (1984). The Michigan Court of Appeals applied the same burden-shifting framework to the diminished-capacity defense. See People v. Denton, 138 Mich. App. 568, 571-572, 360 N.W.2d 245, 247-248 (1984).

In 1994, however, the Michigan Legislature amended Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §768.21a, the statute codifying the insanity defense, to provide that the defendant bears “the burden of proving the defense of insanity by a raising the diminished-capacity defense, and it further held that requiring defendants to establish their diminished capacity by a preponderance of the evidence did not unconstitutionally relieve the prosecution of its burden to prove the mens rea elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Id., 1999 Mich. App. LEXIS 1259, at *4-5, [WL] at *1-*2.

In turn, the Michigan Supreme Court also affirmed, but it did so on an entirely different ground. As earlier stated, see supra, at 355-356, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 994-995, the court concluded that in no case could criminal defendants invoke the diminished-capacity defense, for that defense was not encompassed within the “comprehensive statutory scheme” the Michigan Legislature had enacted to govern defenses based on mental illness or retardation. Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 236, 627 N.W.2d, at 282. Noting that previously it had “acknowledged in passing the concept of the diminished capacity defense,” Michigan’s short of insanity . . . to avoid or reduce criminal responsibility by negating specific intent.” 464 Mich., at 237, 627 N.W.2d, at 283.

Carpenter cited three decisions in which the Michigan Supreme Court had previously mentioned the diminished-capacity defense: (1) People v. Lloyd, 459 Mich. 433, 450, 590 N.W.2d 738, 745 (1999) ( per curiam), which held that defense counsel was not constitutionally ineffective in presenting a diminished-capacity defense rather than an insanity defense; (2) People v. Pickens, 446 Mich. 298, 329-331, 521 N.W.2d 797, 811-812 (1994), which rejected a defendant’s claim that his attorney rendered ineffective assistance by failing to pursue a diminished-capacity defense; and (3) People v. Griffin, 433 Mich. 860, 444 N.W.2d 139, 140 (1989) ( per curiam), a summary order remanding a case to the trial court for a hearing on the defendant’s claim that the defendant’s attorney was ineffective “for failing to explore defenses of diminished capacity and insanity.” See Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 232-233, 627 N.W.2d, at 281. See also 683 F. 3d 740, 746-749, 751 (CA6 2012) (describing additional Michigan Supreme Court decisions that mention the diminished-capacity defense, but acknowledging that the Michigan Supreme Court “did not squarely address the validity of the defense until” its 2001 decision in Carpenter); App. to Brief for Respondent A-1, A-3 to A-4 (citing eight pre- Carpenter Michigan Supreme Court decisions mentioning the diminished-capacity defense).

2

The Michigan Court of Appeals concluded that applying Carpenter retroactively to Lancaster’s case did not violate due process, for Carpenter “concerned an unambiguous statute that was interpreted by the [Michigan] Supreme Court for the first time.” App. to Pet. for Cert. 77a. As earlier Michigan Court of Appeals decisions indicate, see supra, at 361-363, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 998-999, the bearing of the 1975 legislation on the diminished-capacity defense may not have been apparent pre- Carpenter. But in light of our precedent and the history recounted above, see Part II-B-1, supra, the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision applying Carpenter retroactively does not warrant disapprobation as “an unreasonable application of . . . clearly established [f]ederal law.” 28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1).

This case is a far cry from Bouie, where, unlike Rogers, the Court held that the retroactive application of a judicial decision violated due process. In Bouie, the South Carolina close inspection, to lack statutory grounding. The situation we confronted in Bouie bears scant resemblance to this case, and our resolution of that controversy hardly makes disallowance of Lancaster’s diminished-capacity defense an unreasonable reading of this Court’s law.

On the other hand, as the Sixth Circuit recognized, see 683 F. 3d, at 749-751, Lancaster’s argument against applying Carpenter retroactively is arguably less weak than the argument opposing retroactivity we rejected in Rogers. Unlike the year and a day rule at issue in Rogers, the diminished-capacity defense is not an “outdated relic of the common law” widely rejected by modern courts and legislators. 532 U.S., at 462, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. To the contrary, the Model Penal Code sets out a version of the defense. See ALI, Model Penal Code §4.02(1), pp. 216-217 (1985) (“Evidence that the defendant suffered from a mental disease or defect is admissible whenever it is relevant to prove that the defendant did or did not have a state of mind that is an element of the offense.”). See also id., Comment 2, at 219 (“The Institute perceived no justification for a limitation on evidence that may bear significantly on a determination of the mental of such evidence in at least some circumstances. See ABA Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards §7-6.2, and Commentary, pp. 347-349, and n. 2 (1989). See also Clark v. Arizona, 548 U.S. 735, 800, 126 S. Ct. 2709, 165 L. Ed. 2d 842 (2006) (Kennedy, J., dissenting) (reporting that in 2006, “a substantial majority of the States” permitted the introduction of “mental-illness evidence to negate mens rea”).

Furthermore, the year and a day rule was mentioned only three times in dicta in Tennessee reported decisions. Rogers, 532 U.S., at 464, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. The diminished-capacity defense, by contrast, had been adhered to repeatedly by the Michigan Court of Appeals. See supra, at 361-363, 185 L. Ed. 2d, at 998-999. It had also been “‘acknowledged in passing’” in Michigan Supreme Court decisions and was reflected in the Michigan State Bar’s pattern jury instructions. 683 F. 3d, at 746-749 (quoting Carpenter, 464 Mich., at 232, 627 N.W.2d, at 281).

These considerations, however, are hardly sufficient to warrant federal habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. §2254(d)(1)’s demanding standard. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 410, 120 S. Ct. 1495, 146 L. Ed. 2d 389 (2000) ( “[A]n unreasonable application of federal law is different from an incorrect application of federal law.”). Rogers did not hold that a newly announced judicial rule may be applied retroactively only if the rule it replaces was an “outdated relic” rarely appearing in a jurisdiction’s case law. 532 U.S., at 462-467, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697. Distinguishing Rogers, a case in which we rejected a due process claim, thus does little to bolster Lancaster’s argument that the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision unreasonably applied clearly established federal law. See Williams, 529 U.S., at 412, 120 S. Ct. 1495, 146 L. Ed. 2d 389 ( the phrase “clearly established [f]ederal law” in §2254(d)(1) “refers to the holdings . . . of this Court’s decisions as of the time of the relevant state-court decision” (emphasis added)).

This Court has never found a due process violation in circumstances remotely resembling Lancaster’s case— i.e., the supreme court’s reasonable interpretation of the language of a controlling statute. Fairminded jurists could conclude that a state supreme court decision of that order is not “unexpected and indefensible by reference to [existing] law.” Rogers, 532 U.S., at 462, 121 S. Ct. 1693, 149 L. Ed. 2d 697 (internal quotation marks omitted). Lancaster therefore is not entitled to federal habeas relief on his due process claim.

***

For the reasons stated, the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is

Reversed.