590
Stevens, J., dissenting
out regard to the possible consequences of its verdict. That rule, of course, was primarily designed to protect defendants from the risk that jurors might otherwise improperly rely on matters such as sympathy for the victim, arguments of counsel, or inadmissible comments in the courtroom.
When Congress enacted the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 (Act), 18 U. S. C. §§ 17, 4241-4247, it established a civil commitment process for the entire federal system, thus making the basis for the District of Columbia Circuit's holding in Lyles applicable to all federal courts. The Act's legislative history unmistakably demonstrates that the Act's sponsors assumed that the Lyles precedent would thereafter be followed nationwide. See ante, at 583. That assumption does not have the force of a statutory mandate, but it verifies that thoughtful legislators familiar with the issue believed that precedent to be entirely sound. That this Court should now decide to change an established rule that Congress accepted and that protects defendants meaningfully against an obvious risk of injustice is startling—particularly when that change is for no reason other than a perceived inconsistency with another rule that is generally protective of defendants' rights. A far wiser disposition would allow the defendant to choose between the two rules, rather than tilt the scales to favor the prosecutor in every case.
The incongruity of the Court's holding is compounded by its selection of Rogers v. United States, 422 U. S. 35 (1975), as its authority for what it calls the "principle" that juries should not consider the consequences of their verdict. Ante, at 579. It is worth noting that the writer of the Court's opinion in Rogers—Chief Justice Burger—was also one of the authors of Lyles. In Rogers, the jury had sent the judge a note asking whether he would accept a verdict of "Guilty as charged with extreme mercy of the Court"; when the court answered yes, the jury returned five minutes later with that verdict. Rogers, 422 U. S., at 36-37. What Rogers held is
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