In the 1992 case of Leonel Torres Herrera v. James A. Collins, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a claim of actual innocence does not entitle a prisoner to federal habeas corpus relief. Herrera had been convicted for capital murder in 1982 and sentenced to death; however he later claimed new evidence proved his innocence and sought habeas corpus relief - an order requiring that a person under arrest be brought before a judge or into court. The majority opinion held that claims of actual innocence based on newly discovered evidence have never been held to state ground for federal habeas relief absent an independent constitutional violation occurring in the underlying state criminal proceeding.

In the dissenting opinion for Herrera v. Collins, Justice Blackmun argued that the majority's decision failed to uphold a fundamental principle of justice: that no innocent person should be executed. He contended that new evidence suggesting innocence must always provide grounds for federal habeas corpus relief, regardless of whether all procedural requirements have been met in previous trials or appeals. The Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and its guarantee of due process necessitate this protection, according to him. Furthermore, he criticized the majority’s reliance on clemency powers as an adequate safeguard against wrongful execution because it is not judicially enforceable and therefore cannot substitute for constitutional rights.