opinion: DIXON v. DUFFY, WARDEN.
  No. 79.
  Argued October 16, 1951.
  Continued November 5, 1951.
  Franklin C. Stark, acting under appointment by the Court, argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioner.
  Clarence A. Linn, Assistant Attorney General of California, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Edmund G. Brown, Attorney General, and Howard S. Goldin, Assistant Attorney General..
  Per Curiam.
  Petitioner was convicted in the California Superior Court in 1949 of making and possessing counterfeiting dies or plates in violation of Cal. Penal Code, 1949, § 480. He did not appeal, but sought to challenge the validity of his conviction by filing successive petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in the California Superior Court and California District Court of Appeal.
  Following denial of these petitions, he instituted this case by filing an original petition' for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of California. The Supreme Court of California denied the petition without opinion, two justices thereof voting for issuance of the writ. We granted certiorari, 341 U. S. 938, because of a serious claim that petitioner had been deprived of his rights under the Federal Constitution.
  At the bar of this Court, the Attorney General of the State of California argued that habeas corpus was not a proper state remedy for determination of petitioner’s federal claim. It is the position of the Attorney General that petitioner’s failure to appeal in this case barred him from seeking post-conviction relief by way of a collateral habeas corpus proceeding.. He admits that habeas corpus is available in California in cases involving certain exceptional circumstances, but contends that this is not such a case. If the Attorney General is correct, the judgment may rest on a non-federal ground, thus calling for dismissal of our writ of certiorari. In this state of uncertainty, we follow our precedents in Herb v. Pitcairn, 324 U. S. 117 (1945), and Loftus v. Illinois, 334 U. S. 804 (1948).
  Accordingly, the cause is ordered continued for such period as will enable counsel for petitioner to secure a determination from the Supreme Court of California as • to whether, the judgment herein was intended to rest on an adequate independent state ground or whether decision of the federal claim was necessary to the judgment rendered.
  Cause continued.
  Mr. Justice Douglas dissents.
  Mr. Justice Minton took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
choices: comity: civil rights comity: criminal procedure comity: First Amendment comity: habeas corpus comity: military comity: obscenity comity: privacy comity: miscellaneous comity primarily removal cases, civil procedure (cf. comity, criminal and First Amendment); deference to foreign judicial tribunals assessment of costs or damages: as part of a court order Federal Rules of Civil Procedure including Supreme Court Rules, application of the Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure in civil litigation, Circuit Court Rules, and state rules and admiralty rules judicial review of administrative agency's or administrative official's actions and procedures mootness (cf. standing to sue: live dispute) venue no merits: writ improvidently granted no merits: dismissed or affirmed for want of a substantial or properly presented federal question, or a nonsuit no merits: dismissed or affirmed for want of jurisdiction (cf. judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal from federal district courts or courts of appeals) no merits: adequate non-federal grounds for decision no merits: remand to determine basis of state or federal court decision (cf. judicial administration: state law) no merits: miscellaneous standing to sue: adversary parties standing to sue: direct injury standing to sue: legal injury standing to sue: personal injury standing to sue: justiciable question standing to sue: live dispute standing to sue: parens patriae standing standing to sue: statutory standing standing to sue: private or implied cause of action standing to sue: taxpayer's suit standing to sue: miscellaneous judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of federal district courts or territorial courts judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of federal courts of appeals judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal or writ of error, from federal district courts or courts of appeals (cf. 753) judicial administration: Supreme Court jurisdiction or authority on appeal or writ of error, from highest state court judicial administration: jurisdiction or authority of the Court of Claims judicial administration: Supreme Court's original jurisdiction judicial administration: review of non-final order judicial administration: change in state law (cf. no merits: remand to determine basis of state court decision) judicial administration: federal question (cf. no merits: dismissed for want of a substantial or properly presented federal question) judicial administration: ancillary or pendent jurisdiction judicial administration: extraordinary relief (e.g., mandamus, injunction) judicial administration: certification (cf. objection to reason for denial of certiorari or appeal) judicial administration: resolution of circuit conflict, or conflict between or among other courts judicial administration: objection to reason for denial of certiorari or appeal judicial administration: collateral estoppel or res judicata judicial administration: interpleader judicial administration: untimely filing judicial administration: Act of State doctrine judicial administration: miscellaneous Supreme Court's certiorari, writ of error, or appeals jurisdiction miscellaneous judicial power, especially diversity jurisdiction