Cite as: 507 U. S. 725 (1993)
Stevens, J., dissenting
an objection to the presence of alternate jurors during jury deliberations and then to demand automatic reversal.
Justice Stevens, with whom Justice White and Justice Blackmun join, dissenting.
Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 24(c), the trial judge in this case had a clear and unqualified duty to dismiss the alternate jurors at the end of the trial. Indeed, she could no more admit the alternate jurors into the jury room than she could afford any stranger access to that room while the defendants' guilt or innocence was being decided. There can be no question but that the trial judge's failure to abide by the strictures of Rule 24(c) resulted in a violation of the " 'cardinal principle that the deliberations of the jury shall remain private and secret in every case.' " Advisory Committee's Notes on Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 23(b), 18 U. S. C. App., p. 785 (quoting United States v. Virginia Erection Corp., 335 F. 2d 868, 872 (CA4 1964).
In my view, it is equally evident that this violation implicated "substantial rights" within the meaning of Rule 52. I cannot agree with the Court's suggestion in Part III of its opinion that Rule 24(c) errors may be deemed to "affect substantial rights" only when they have a prejudicial impact on a particular defendant. At least some defects bearing on the jury's deliberative function are subject to reversal regardless of whether prejudice can be shown, not only because it is so difficult to measure their effects on a jury's decision, but also because such defects "undermin[e] the structural integrity of the criminal tribunal itself." Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U. S. 254, 263-264 (1986) (racial discrimination in selection of grand jury); see also Gray v. Mississippi, 481 U. S. 648, 668 (1987); id., at 669 (Powell, J., concurring) (improper exclusion of juror opposed to death penalty). Whether or not they harm the defendant, errors that call into question the integrity of the jury's deliberations may harm the system
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