From Every CRS Report: In 1988, Chief Justice Rehnquist formed an ad hoc committee on federal habeas corpus in capital cases (aka the Powell Committee). The Powell Committee analyzed "the necessity and desirability of legislation directed toward avoiding delay and the lack of finality in capital cases." The committee found that the current system (at that time) of collateral review:

A) Is fraught with "unnecessary delay and repetition." The inadequacies of the system are due to the following: (1) a lack of coordination between federal and state legal systems, resulting in prisoners moving back and forth between the two systems before exhausting state remedies; (2) prisoners filing excessive, last minute motions for stays of execution; and (3) the absence of a statute of limitation allows for prisoners to file multiple petitions at any point during their incarceration.

B) Lacks competent and adequately compensated representation.

C) Permits last-minute litigation where claims are meritless and are conducted amidst a pending execution, which leads to the abuse of judicial resources and justice.

As a result of its findings, the Powell Committee made several recommendations, some of which were adopted in AEDPA (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996) including:

A) Establishing a separate statutory procedure for federal habeas corpus proceedings in capital cases for states to opt-in if they meet certain requirements that pertain to the appointment of competent counsel and compensation of reasonable litigation expenses for indigent prisoners. The opt-in system would provide a shorter statute of limitation (six months as opposed to one year) for the filing of habeas corpus petition. The federal judiciary would have the final judgment about the adequacy of a state's counsel appointment system.

B) Requiring a mandatory stay of execution until the federal habeas corpus proceeding is completed for a prisoner's first request for post-conviction relief.

C) Requiring prisoners to file their federal habeas corpus petitions no later than 180 days after an order is entered appointing counsel.

D) Limiting federal courts to considering claims that were raised and litigated in state courts and have adequate evidentiary records and findings of facts.