Reflections on Fifteen Years of the Teague v. Lane Retroactivity Paradigm: A Study of the Persistence, the Pervasiveness, and the Perversity of the Court's Doctrine

Abstract

Reflections on Fifteen Years of the Teague v. Lane Retroactivity Paradigm: A Study of the Persistence, the Pervasiveness, and the Perversity of the Court's Doctrine considers the retroactive application of criminal procedure decisional law to state prisoners seeking federal habeas review. The scope of constitutional criminal protections presents important legal, political, and practical questions and concerns, and this article examines the evolution of this important judicial doctrine to its current form. In considering this evolution, the article explores the history and case law that led up to the emergence of the modern retroactivity doctrine that the Court created in Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288 (1989). The article then grapples with the exceptionally broad scope of the Court's current definition of 'new rules,' the exceptionally narrow exceptions to the Teague doctrine, and the powerful and pervasive effect that the Teague retroactivity doctrine has on constitutional criminal procedure and federal habeas corpus review.

Keywords: retroactivity doctrine, Teague doctrine, Teague v. Lane