Does the rule of exhaustion apply to a defendant's application for a writ of habeas corpus?

Moreover, the rule of exhaustion is not jurisdictional, but rather "a rule ordering the state and federal proceedings so as to eliminate unnecessary federal-state friction." Fay, 372 U.S. at 435, 83 S.Ct. at 847 (1963); Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 80, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 2502-03, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977) (rules of comity do not undermine federal power to entertain habeas petitions); 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2254(d)(4) (denying deference to state court findings when state court lacked jurisdiction). If a lower court's "want of power appears on the face of the record of his condemnation, whether in the indictment or elsewhere, the court which has authority to issue the writ [of habeas corpus] is bound to release him." Ex parte Nielsen, 131 U.S. 176, 183, 9 S.Ct. 672, 674, 33 L.Ed. 118 (1889) (citation omitted).