The study concludes that the State supreme courts are conscientiously applying the precedents of the United States Supreme Court, although the lower Federal courts are sometimes willfully disobedient of United States Supreme Court precedent. However, Federal habeas corpus is almost never used to correct fundamentally wrong results. In addition, few of the errors reviewed in Federal habeas corpus relate to the fundamental fairness of the trial. Moreover, the States are not doing as much as they could to preserve the integrity of their own judgments through such approaches as rapid resolution of claims and providing explicit findings of facts. The habeas corpus review of final convictions currently serves both legitimate and illegitimate purposes, and some specific changes in Federal and State rules would correct the current problems. List and explanation of each proposed change, footnotes, and appended summaries of cases are included.