Byron White

“ I must also protest the implication in the Court's opinion that every decision of this Court in the field of habeas corpus even one like Price v. Johnston, dealing with a purely procedural question on which reasonable men surely may differ-has become enshrined in the Constitution because of the guarantee in Article I against suspension of the writ. ”

“ While, contrary to the Court, I think the District Court's denial without hearing of a second § 2255 application in this case was entirely proper in the circumstances shown by the record, the more serious aspect of the Court's opinion is the impact it is likely to have in curbing the ability of the Federal District Courts to cope efficiently, as well as fairly, with successive applications by federal prisoners, [1] the number of which will doubtless increase as a result of what is said today. ”

“ Both the individual criminal defendant and society have an interest in insuring that there will at some point be the certainty that comes with an end to litigation, and that attention will ultimately be focused not on whether a conviction was free from error but rather on whether the prisoner can be restored to a useful place in the community. ”

“ They suffer the danger of pitfalls that usually go with judging in a vacuum. However carefully written, they are apt in their application to carry unintended consequences which once accomplished are not always easy to repair. Rules respecting matters daily arising in the federal courts are ultimately likely to find more solid formulation if left to focused adjudication on a case-by-case basis, or to the normal rule-making processes of the Judicial Conference, rather than to ex cathedra pronouncements by this Court, which is remote from the arena. ”

“ Moreover, Congress could certainly have reasonably concluded, as did the dissenters in Price, that:
'It is not too much to ask the petitioner to state, however informally, that this * * * petition is based on newly discovered matter, or, in any event, on a claim that he could not fairly have been asked to bring to the court's attention in his * * * prior petitions. Such a requirement certainly does not narrow the broad protection which the writ * * * serves.' 334 U.S., at 294, [3] 68 S.Ct., at 1064, 92 L.Ed. ”

“ Sanders v. United States
Argued: Feb. 25, 1963. --- Decided: April 29, 1963
Mr. Justice WHITE concurs in the result.
Mr. Justice HARLAN, whom Mr. Justice CLARK joins, dissenting.
This case, together with Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 83 S.Ct. 745, and Fay v. Noia, 372 U.S. 391, 83 S.Ct. 822, form a trilogy of 'guideline' decisions in which the Court has undertaken to restate the responsibilities of the federal courts in federal post-conviction proceedings. Sain and Noia relate to federal habeas corpus proceedings arising out of state criminal convictions. ”

“ But the language in issue here, defining those applications considered to be successive, i.e., those presenting 'no new ground not theretofore presented and determined,' was the same as that contained in § 2244 as ultimately enacted.↑ It seems clear that the actual decision in Price v. ”