Whether the Ninth Circuit's practice of adjudicating habeas petition merits at the COA stage violates Supreme Court precedent and statutory requirements, and whether courts can engage in credibility determinations when assessing excluded evidence's trustworthiness

is: 1. Whether the Ninth Circuit’s practice of adjudicating the ultimate merits of a habeas petition at the COA stage, often on prejudice grounds, violates this Court’s decision in Buck and 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) . An accused, under Chambers, has the right to present necessary and trustworthy evidence of innocence. As to trustworthiness, this Court has cautioned against courts engaging in credibility determinations —the province of the jury. But lower courts are doing just that. Therefore, the second question presented is: 2. Whether Chambers and its progeny preclude courts from engaging in credibility determinations when assessing the “trustworthiness” of excluded evidence .