Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003) (ABA Standards, as “guides” to counsel’s duty to investigate, represent “clearly established precedent”); Keith B. Canaan v. McBride, 395 F. 3d 376 (7th Cir 2005):
We follow the Court’s lead in Strickland and Wiggins by looking first to the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice and the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688 (“Prevailing norms of practice as reflected in American Bar Association standards and the like, e.g., ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, are guides to determining what is reasonable.” (internal citation omitted)); Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 522. While these standards are not determinative, see Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688-89, they nonetheless represent “well-defined norms” on which the Court has routinely relied, see Wiggins, 539 U.S. at 524….
