648
White, J., dissenting
all such "trial errors" are now subject to harmless-error analysis, see Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U. S. 279, 307-308 (1991), and that "most constitutional errors" are of this variety, id., at 306, the Court effectively has ousted Chapman from habeas review of state convictions.* In other words, a state court determination that a constitutional error—even one as fundamental as the admission of a coerced confession, see Fulminante, supra, at 308—is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt has in effect become unreviewable by lower federal courts by way of habeas corpus.
I believe this result to be at odds with the role Congress has ascribed to habeas review, which is, at least in part, to deter both prosecutors and courts from disregarding their constitutional responsibilities. "[T]he threat of habeas serves as a necessary additional incentive for trial and appellate courts throughout the land to conduct their proceedings in a manner consistent with established constitutional standards." Desist v. United States, 394 U. S. 244, 262-263 (1969) (Harlan, J., dissenting); see also Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288, 306 (1989) (plurality opinion). In response, the majority characterizes review of the Chapman determination by a federal habeas court as "scarcely . . . logical," ante, at 636, and, in any event, sees no evidence that deterrence is needed. Ibid. Yet the logic of such practice is not ours to assess for, as Justice Frankfurter explained:
"Congress could have left the enforcement of federal constitutional rights governing the administration of criminal justice in the States exclusively to the State courts. These tribunals are under the same duty as the federal courts to respect rights under the United States Constitution. . . . But the wisdom of such a modification in the law is for Congress to consider . . . ." Brown v.
*As I explained in Fulminante, I have serious doubt regarding the effort to classify in systematic fashion constitutional violations as either "trial errors"—that are subject to harmlessness analysis—or "structural defects"—that are not. See 499 U. S., at 290 (White, J., dissenting).
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