640
Stevens, J., concurring
ical definition, and no single test can guarantee that a judge will grant or deny habeas relief when faced with a similar set of facts. Every allegation of due process denied depends on the specific process provided, and it is familiar learning that all "claims of constitutional error are not fungible." Rose v. Lundy, 455 U. S. 509, 543 (1982) (Stevens, J., dissenting). As the Court correctly notes, constitutional due process violations vary dramatically in significance; harmless trial errors are at one end of a broad spectrum, and what the Court has characterized as "structural" defects—those that make a trial fundamentally unfair even if they do not affect the outcome of the proceeding—are at "the other end of the spectrum," ante, at 629. Although Members of the Court have disagreed about the seriousness of the due process violation identified in Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U. S. 610 (1976), in this case we unanimously agree that a constitutional violation occurred; moreover, we also all agree that some version of harmless-error analysis is appropriate.
We disagree, however, about whether the same form of harmless-error analysis should apply in a collateral attack as on a direct appeal, and, if not, what the collateral attack standard should be for an error of this kind. The answer to the first question follows from our long history of distinguishing between collateral and direct review, see, e. g., Sunal v. Large, 332 U. S. 174, 178 (1947), and confining collateral relief to cases that involve fundamental defects or omissions inconsistent with the rudimentary demands of fair procedure, see, e. g., United States v. Timmreck, 441 U. S. 780, 783 (1979), and cases cited therein. The Court answers the second question by endorsing Justice Rutledge's thoughtful opinion for the Court in Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U. S. 750 (1946). Ante, at 623, 638. Because that standard accords with the statutory rule for reviewing other trial errors that affect substantial rights; places the burden on prosecutors to explain why those errors were harmless; requires a habeas court to review the entire record de novo in determining
Page: Index Previous 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007