30
Opinion of Blackmun, J.
A
In a Louisiana trial court, Tommy Cage was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. On appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, he argued, among other things, that the reasonable-doubt instruction used in the guilt phase of his trial violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See State v. Cage, 554 So. 2d 39 (1989). The instruction in relevant part provided:
"If you entertain a reasonable doubt as to any fact or element necessary to constitute the defendant's guilt, it is your duty to give him the benefit of that doubt and return a verdict of not guilty. Even where the evidence demonstrates a probability of guilt, if it does not establish such guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, you must acquit the accused. This doubt, however, must be a reasonable one; that is one that is founded upon a real tangible substantial basis and not upon mere caprice and conjecture. It must be such a doubt as would give rise to a grave uncertainty, raised in your mind by reasons of the unsatisfactory character of the evidence or lack thereof. A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt. It is an actual substantial doubt. It is a doubt that a reasonable man can seriously entertain. What is required is not an absolute or mathematical certainty, but a moral certainty." Id., at 41 (second emphasis added; first and third emphases in original).
The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed Cage's conviction, reasoning that, although some of the language "might overstate the requisite degree of uncertainty and confuse the jury," the charge as a whole was understandable to "reasonable persons of ordinary intelligence," and therefore constitutional. Ibid.
We granted certiorari and summarily reversed. Cage v. Louisiana, 498 U. S. 39 (1990). The Court noted that some of the language in the instruction was adequate, but ruled
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