544
Opinion of Rehnquist, C. J.
that resentencing was unnecessary. After reaching that conclusion, the court cited four cases in which it had invalidated aggravating factors but had upheld the death sentences, having found that the inclusion of those aggravators made no difference to the weighing process. One of the cases cited in fact made explicit mention of harmless-error analysis. Holton v. State, 573 So. 2d 284, 293 (1990) ("Under the circumstances of this case, we cannot say there is any reasonable likelihood the trial court would have concluded that the three valid aggravating circumstances were outweighed by the mitigating factors. We find the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt") (citation omitted). See supra, at 542-543.
In my mind, it is no stretch to conclude that the court saw this case for what it is—a paradigmatic example of the situation where the invalidation of an aggravator makes absolutely no difference in the sentencing calculus. We have previously observed that the invalidation of an aggravating circumstance results in the removal of a "thumb . . . from death's side of the scale." Stringer v. Black, 503 U. S. 222, 232 (1992). Precisely for this reason, we require appellate courts to either reweigh the evidence or perform harmless-error analysis if they seek to affirm a death sentence after invalidating an aggravator. In a case such as this, however, where there is not so much as a thumbnail on the scale in favor of mitigation, I would not require appellate courts to adhere to any particular form of words to demonstrate that which is evident. If the trial judge in this case had eliminated the "coldness" aggravator from the weighing process, and had balanced the three valid aggravators against the complete absence of mitigating evidence, the absent mitigating evidence would still have failed to outweigh the aggravating evidence, and the sentence would still have been death. Although it did so cursorily, I am convinced that the Supreme Court of Florida found the inclusion of the invalid "coldness" factor harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
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