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Rogers v. United States, 522 U.S. 252, 10 (1998)Legal Research Home > United States Supreme Court > 522 U.S. > Rogers v. United States, 522 U.S. 252, 10 (1998) Cite as: 522 U. S. 252 (1998) Kennedy, J., dissenting form of instruction must be affirmed. This is a substantive point; it was neither briefed nor argued; it is contrary to a commonsense reading of the instruction; and it tends to diminish the force of Staples itself. If the plurality wishes to persist in its interpretation of the instruction, it ought to issue a full opinion addressing the merits of the conviction, rather than mask a substantive determination in its opinion supporting dismissal. As things stand, it brings little credit to us to get rid of the case by a strained and novel reading of the instruction—a reading quite unsupportable on the record—after we granted certiorari and expended the Court's resources to determine a different and important issue of substantive criminal law. The petitioner, whose conviction now stands based on what is for practical purposes an affirmance on a theory no one has suggested until now, will be hard put to understand the plural-ity's cavalier refusal to address his substantive arguments. I dissent from the order dismissing the case. 261 Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Last modified: October 4, 2007 |