252
Scalia, J., dissenting
ent crimes, characterizing them as factors that bear solely on the extent of punishment." Id., at 697-698.
In Patterson v. New York, we cut back on some of the broader implications of Mullaney. Although that case contained, we acknowledged, "some language . . . that ha[d] been understood as perhaps construing the Due Process Clause to require the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any fact affecting 'the degree of criminal culpability,' " we denied that we "intend[ed] . . . such far-reaching effect." 432 U. S., at 214-215, n. 15. Accordingly, we upheld in Patterson New York's law casting upon the defendant the burden of proving as an "affirmative defense" to second-degree murder that he " 'acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse,' " id., at 198-199, n. 2, which defense would reduce his crime to manslaughter. We explained that "[p]roof of the nonexistence of all affirmative defenses has never been constitutionally required," id., at 210, and that the State need not "prove beyond a reasonable doubt every fact, the existence or nonexistence of which it is willing to recognize as an exculpatory or mitigating circumstance affecting the degree of culpability or the severity of the punishment." Id., at 207. We cautioned, however, that while our decision might "seem to permit state legislatures to reallocate burdens of proof by labeling as affirmative defenses at least some elements of the crimes now defined in their statutes[,] . . . there are obviously constitutional limits beyond which the States may not go in this regard." Id., at 210.
Finally, and most recently, in McMillan v. Pennsylvania, 477 U. S., at 81, we upheld Pennsylvania's Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Act, which prescribed a mandatory minimum sentence of five years upon a judge's finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant "visibly possessed a firearm" during the commission of certain enumerated offenses which all carried maximum sentences of
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