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Page Number: 555.0

529US2

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SLACK v. McDANIEL

Opinion of the Court

mixed petition. Here, Slack seeks to challenge the dismissal
of claims as abusive; he does not contend that all claims pre-
sented in the amended petition were exhausted.

The District Court’s dismissal order was ﬁled March 30,
1998. On April 29, 1998, Slack ﬁled in the District Court
a pleading captioned “Notice of Appeal.” Consistent with
Circuit practice, the court treated the notice as an applica-
tion for a certiﬁcate of probable cause (CPC) under the pre-
AEDPA version of 28 U. S. C. § 2253; and it denied a CPC,
concluding the appeal would raise no substantial issue. The
Court of Appeals likewise denied a CPC. No. CV–95–194
(CA9, July 7, 1998), App. 197. As a result, Slack was not
permitted to take an appeal of the order dismissing his peti-
tion. We granted certiorari. 525 U. S. 1138 (1999). Slack
contends that he is entitled to an appeal of the dismissal of
his petition, arguing that the District Court was wrong to
hold that his 1995 petition was “second or successive.” We
agree that Slack’s 1995 petition was not second or successive,
but ﬁrst we must resolve two preliminary questions.

II

Before AEDPA, appellate review of the dismissal of a ha-
beas petition was governed by a version of 28 U. S. C. § 2253
enacted in 1948. Act of June 25, 1948, 62 Stat. 967. The
statute provided no appeal could be taken from the ﬁnal
order in a habeas corpus proceeding “unless the justice or
judge who rendered the order or a circuit justice or judge
Ibid. The statute
issues a certiﬁcate of probable cause.”
did not explain the standards for the issuance of a CPC, but
the Court established what a prisoner must show to obtain
a CPC in Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U. S. 880 (1983): “a substan-
tial showing of the denial of a federal right.”
Id., at 893
(citation and brackets omitted).

Effective April 24, 1996, AEDPA amended § 2253. As rel-
evant here, AEDPA added subsection (c), which provides: