Page:United States Reports, Volume 542.djvu/694

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Cite as: 542 U.S. 649 (2004)
655

Per Curiam

would probably have been different but for those errors." Id., at 98. We have held that such use of the unadorned word "probably" is permissible shorthand when the complete Strickland standard is elsewhere recited. See Woodford v. Visciotti, 537 U.S. 19, 23–24 (2002) (per curiam).

As we explained in Visciotti, § 2254(d) requires that "state court decisions be given the benefit of the doubt." Id., at 24. "[R]eadiness to attribute error is inconsistent with the presumption that state courts know and follow the law." Ibid. The Sixth Circuit ignored those prescriptions.

***

The judgment of the Sixth Circuit is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer would deny the petition for a writ of certiorari.