Cite as: 509 U. S. 688 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
Having encountered today yet another situation in which the pre-Grady understanding of the Double Jeopardy Clause allows a second trial, though the "same-conduct" test would not, we think it time to acknowledge what is now, three years after Grady, compellingly clear: The case was a mistake. We do not lightly reconsider a precedent, but, because Grady contradicted an "unbroken line of decisions," contained "less than accurate" historical analysis, and has produced "confusion," 16 we do so here. Solorio v. United States, 483 U. S.
in the first prosecution might well bar litigation of certain facts essential to the second one—though a conviction in the first prosecution would not excuse the Government from proving the same facts the second time. Surely, moreover, the Government must be deterred from abusive, repeated prosecutions of a single offender for similar offenses by the sheer press of other demands upon prosecutorial and judicial resources. Finally, even if Justice Souter's fear were well founded, no double jeopardy bar short of a same-transaction analysis will eliminate this problem; but that interpretation of the Double Jeopardy Clause has been soundly rejected, see, e. g., Garrett, supra, and would require overruling numerous precedents, the latest of which is barely a year old, United States v. Felix, 503 U. S. 378 (1992).
16 See, e. g., Sharpton v. Turner, 964 F. 2d 1284, 1287 (CA2) (Grady formulation "has proven difficult to apply" and "whatever difficulties we have previously encountered in grappling with the Grady language have not been eased by" Felix), cert. denied, 506 U. S. 986 (1992); Ladner v. Smith, 941 F. 2d 356, 362, 364 (CA5 1991) (a divided court adopts a four-part test for application of Grady and notes that Grady, "even if carefully analyzed and painstakingly administered, is not easy to apply"), cert. denied, 503 U. S. 983 (1992); United States v. Calderone, 917 F. 2d 717 (CA2 1990) (divided court issues three opinions construing Grady), vacated and remanded, 503 U. S. 978 (1992) (remanded for consideration in light of Felix); United States v. Prusan, 780 F. Supp. 1431, 1434-1436 (SDNY 1991) ("[T]he lower courts have had difficulty discerning the precise boundaries of the Grady standard, and the circuits have not applied uniformly the 'same conduct' test"), rev'd, 967 F. 2d 57 (CA2), cert. denied sub nom. Vives v. United States, 506 U. S. 987 (1992); State v. Woodfork, 239 Neb. 720, 725, 478 N. W. 2d 248, 252 (1991) (divided court overrules year-old precedent construing Grady, because it was a "misapplication" of Grady); Eatherton v. State, 810 P. 2d 93, 99, 104 (Wyo. 1991) (majority states that
711
Page: Index Previous 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007