Whether a new rule bars States from proscribing certain conduct or from inflicting a certain punishment, "[i]n both cases, the Constitution itself deprives the State of the power to impose a certain penalty." On January 25, 2016, the Supreme Court decided that states must retroactively apply the ban on mandatory death-in-prison sentences for juveniles. See Art. Transcript of Oral Argument at 35, 38, Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016) (No. Under this standard, and for the reasons explained below, Miller announced a substantive rule that is retroactive in cases on collateral review. But the Court could not find a satisfactory answer: "A judgment may be erroneous and not void, and it may be erroneous because it is void. Today's holding not only forecloses Congress from eliminating this expansion of Teague in federal courts, but also foists this distortion upon the States. The Court expressly refused to say so in Miller. I write separately to explain why the Court's resolution of the jurisdictional question, ante, at 5-14, lacks any foundation in the Constitution's text or our historical traditions. Louisiana follows these basic Supremacy Clause principles in its postconviction proceedings for challenging the legality of a sentence. Ante, at 21. Rev., at 467-468, and n. 56, 471. Compare, e.g., Martin v. Symmes, 782 F. 3d 939, 943 (CA8 2015); Johnson v. Ponton, 780 F. 3d 219, 224-226 (CA4 2015); Chambers v. State, 831 N. W. 2d 311, 331 (Minn. 2013); and State v. Tate, 2012-2763, p. 17 (La. If so, whether Louisiana’s capital rape statute violates the Eighth Amendment QPReport Even if the Court's holding were limited to federal courts, Article III would not justify it. The Court in the mid-20th century was confounded by what Justice Harlan called the "swift pace of constitutional change," Pickelsimer v. Wainwright, 375 U. S. 2, 4 (1963) (dissenting opinion), as it vacated and remanded many cases in the wake of Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335 (1963). Following his analysis, we have clarified time and again--recently in Greene v. Fisher, 565 U. S. ___, ___-___ (2011) (slip op., at 4-5)--that federal habeas courts are to review state-court decisions against the law and factual record that existed at the time the decisions were made. Teague held that federal habeas courts could no longer upset state-court convictions for violations of so-called "new rules," not yet announced when the conviction became final. 4 Cir. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Louisiana is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. 441, 466 (1963). 14‑280, slip op. Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, state collateral review courts have no greater power than federal habeas courts to mandate that a prisoner continue to suffer punishment barred by the Constitution. That this finding is not required, however, speaks only to the degree of procedure Miller mandated in order to implement its substantive guarantee. . Nor can the Equal Protection Clause justify requiring courts on collateral review to apply new substantive rules retroactively. shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding"). Then in Penry v. Lynaugh, 492 U. S. 302 (1989), the Court expanded this first exception for substantive rules to embrace new rules "prohibiting a certain category of punishment for a class of defendants because of their status or offense." Anthony M. Kennedy: Petitioner, Henry Montgomery, was sentenced to a mandatory life without parole for murder he committed when he was 17 years old. 401 U. S., at 724. Even then, Griffith was a directive only to courts on direct review. But, as Justice Harlan had explained, that view of Article III has no force on collateral review: "While the entire theoretical underpinnings of judicial review and constitutional supremacy dictate that federal courts having jurisdiction on direct review adjudicate every issue of law . In this case, the Court must address part of the question left open in Danforth. Armstrong v. Exceptional Child Center, Inc., 575 U. S. ___, ___ (2015) (slip op., at 3). United States Coin & Currency involved a case on direct review; yet, for the reasons explained in this opinion, the same principle should govern the application of substantive rules on collateral review. Ibid. Nearly 50 years after Montgomery was taken into custody, this Court decided that mandatory life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on " 'cruel and unusual punishments.' As Justice Harlan explained, where a State lacked the power to proscribe the habeas petitioner's conduct, "it could not constitutionally insist that he remain in jail." The parties agree that the Court has jurisdiction to decide this case. Of the natural places to look--Article III, the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment--none establishes a right to void an unconstitutional sentence that has long been final. That none of those imprisoned pursuant to rules later deemed unconstitutional the Miller decision should not be retroactive and of! And chief Justice Johnson and Justice Hughes dissented in Tate, and they may fall under the Eighth Amendment ''! 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