Whether a claim of actual innocence is cognizable in federal habeas

QUESTION PRESENTED The only question in deciding whether to grant a Certificate of Appealability (“COA”) is whether reasonable jurists could disagree with the district court’s resolution of the claims. The Justices of this Court have long disagreed whether a claim of actual innocence is cognizable in federal habeas. Yet the Ninth Circuit denied a COA on Petitioner's actual innocence claim, finding it foreclosed by this Court’s precedent. Did the Ninth Circuit’s denial of a COA contravene this Court’s ruling regarding the standard for granting a COA? This Court noted in Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390, 417 (1993) that it is “scarcely logical” to interpret the Constitution as prohibiting the execution of innocent people while condoning life sentences for the innocent. The district court here found that substantive claims of innocence, if viable, would only apply in the capital context. Did the Ninth Circuit’s silent adoption of the district court’s finding contravene Herrera? i