Lopez

MEMORANDUM ***

California state prisoner Andrew Rick Lopez appeals pro se from the district court’s judgment denying his habeas petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 2253. After de novo review, see Sass v. Cal. Bd. of Prison Terms, 461 F.3d 1123, 1126 (9th Cir.2006), we affirm.

We reject as foreclosed the State’s suggestion that we lack jurisdiction to entertain this appeal because Lopez did not obtain a certificate of appealability. See Rosas v. Nielsen, 428 F.3d 1229, 1231-32 (9th Cir.2005) (per curiam).

Lopez contends that the district court erred when it declined to deem admitted certain allegations he made in his § 2254 petition to which the State did not directly respond in its answer. We reject this contention. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(b); cf. Harvey Aluminum, Inc. v. NLRB, 335 F.2d 749, 758 (9th Cir.1964).

Lopez also contends that the prison disciplinary hearing at issue did not afford him certain procedural protections. The procedural protections to which Lopez claims he was entitled fall into two categories — those that correspond to due process rights found in clearly established federal law as identified by the Supreme Court,…