Thomas, J., dissenting
faulted the Ninth Circuit for “fail[ing] to engage in the circumstance-specific reasonableness inquiry required by Strickland.” 528 U. S., at 478. We concluded that this failure “alone mandates vacatur and remand.” Ibid.
We further explained that counsel’s failure to consult with the client about an appeal constitutes deficient performance only when counsel should have consulted. Id., at 479. The Court was clear: “We cannot say, as a constitutional matter, that in every case counsel’s failure to consult with the defendant about an appeal is necessarily unreasonable.” Ibid. In determining whether counsel has a duty to consult, we stated that “a highly relevant factor in this inquiry will be whether the conviction follows a trial or guilty plea, both because a guilty plea reduces the scope of potentially appealable issues and because such a plea may indicate that the defendant seeks an end to judicial proceedings.” Id., at 480. Finally, “[e]ven in cases when the defendant pleads guilty, the court must consider such factors as whether the defendant received the sentence bargained for as part of the plea and whether the plea expressly reserved or waived some or all appeal rights.” Ibid. We rejected the argument that choosing not to consult was outside the scope of valid, strategic decision-making, as “we have consistently declined to impose mechanical rules on counsel.” Id., at 481. In sum, we “reject[ed] a bright-line rule that counsel must always consult with the defendant regarding an appeal” and instructed courts to evaluate whether the decision to consult was “reasonable” under the circumstances. Id., at 480–481.
We also rejected the Ninth Circuit’s “per se prejudice rule” because it “ignore[d] the critical requirement that counsel’s deficient performance must actually cause the forfeiture of the defendant’s appeal.” Id., at 484. We held that, “to show prejudice in these circumstances, a defendant must demonstrate that there is a reasonable probabil-
