Whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision violates Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255 (1989) and the bedrock habeas corpus principle of comity

QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision violates Harris v. Reed, 489 U.S. 255 (1989) and the bedrock habeas corpus principle of comity by treating a state’s highest court’s ruling, which affirms the lower court ruling on state procedural grounds and on the merits, as only being a merits determination reviewable under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)? i