368
Opinion of the Court
The Court of Appeals affirmed by a divided vote, 946 F. 2d 571 (CA8 1991), even though it had two years earlier overruled its decision in Collins in light of our decision in Lowenfield v. Phelps, 484 U. S. 231 (1988). See Perry v. Lockhart, 871 F. 2d 1384 (CA8), cert. denied, 493 U. S. 959 (1989). The majority believed that the Arkansas trial court was bound under the Supremacy Clause to obey the Eighth Circuit's interpretation of the Federal Constitution. Based on this belief, it reasoned that had counsel made the objection, the trial court would have sustained the objection and the jury would not have sentenced respondent to death. The court remanded, ordering the District Court to sentence respondent to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. It held that since respondent was entitled to the benefit of Collins at the time of his original sentencing proceeding, it would only "perpetuate the prejudice caused by the original sixth amendment violation" to resentence him under current law. 946 F. 2d, at 578.
The dissenting judge argued that Strickland prejudice involves more than a determination that the outcome would have been different—it also involves the concepts of reliability and fairness. 946 F. 2d, at 579 ("By focusing only on the probable effect of counsel's error at the time of Fretwell's sentencing, the majority misses the broader and more important point that his sentencing proceeding reached neither an unreliable nor an unfair result"). We granted certiorari, 504 U. S. 908 (1992), and now reverse.
Our decisions have emphasized that the Sixth Amendment
right to counsel exists "in order to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial." Strickland v. Washington, supra, at 684; Nix v. Whiteside, 475 U. S. 157, 175 (1986) (noting that under Strickland, the "benchmark" of the right to counsel is the "fairness of the adversary proceeding"); United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 653 (1984) ("Without counsel, the right to a trial itself would be of little avail") (internal quotation marks and footnote omitted); United States v. Morrison, 449
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