Lopez v. Smith

Opinion *1 PER CURIAM.

When a state prisoner seeks federal habeas relief on the ground that a state court, in adjudicating a claim on the merits, *2 misapplied federal law, a federal court may grant relief only if the state court's decision was "contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States." 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (d)(1). We have emphasized, time and again, that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), 110 Stat. 1214 , prohibits the federal courts of appeals from relying on…