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34 At the very least, this take on early habeas practice appears contradicted by United States v. Bainbridge, 24 F. Cas. 946 (No. 14,497) (CC Mass. 1816) (Story, J.). There, Justice Story considered a statutory innocence claim on the merits even though the individual had already pleaded guilty. Id., at 949, 951–952. And the postconviction/preconviction distinction also runs headlong into other precedents that have looked back on history and do not subscribe to such a narrow view. St. Cyr, 533 U. S., at 302 (“[T]he issuance of the writ was not limited to challenges to the jurisdiction of the custodian”); Fay v. Noia, 372 U. S. 391, 404 (1963) (“Nor is it true that at common law habeas corpus was available only to inquire into the jurisdiction, in a narrow sense, of the committing court” (citing Bushell’s Case, Vaughn. 135, 124 Eng. Rep. 1006 (C. P. 1670))).

Thus, assuming, arguendo, that the historical grounding of the particular type of claim Jones sought to bring even matters, the majority is mistaken when it contends that a statutory innocence claim (including one brought in a successive petition) is not sufficiently historical to warrant application of our clear-statement rule.

If the majority had applied the clear-statement rule, as it should have, to determine whether §2255(h) precludes successive postconviction petitions that assert statutory innocence claims, today’s interpretive task would have merely involved answering one simple question: Is there an unambiguous sign in the text of §2255 that Congress meant for §2255(h) to strip an incarcerated individual of any opportunity to raise a new claim of legal innocence in a motion brought in federal court? No such sign exists. Therefore,