148
Stevens, J., dissenting
Appeals' brief explanation of why the invalid instruction given to the jury was not harmless, but, as I shall explain, the court's ruling was unquestionably correct.
The State does not challenge the conclusion that the jury was given an unconstitutional instruction. It merely argues that this trial error should not "command automatic reversal . . . without application of the harmless error test of Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U. S. 619 (1993)." 1 And respondent Coleman does not contend that Brecht is inapplicable. He merely argues that the Court of Appeals actually performed the Brecht inquiry, albeit in an expedited fashion. Thus, the only controversy before this Court is whether the Court of Appeals was faithful to Brecht, and sufficiently explicit in its adherence.
Three aspects of the Brecht test for harmless error are significant here: (1) The test requires the reviewing judge to evaluate the error in the context of the entire record; (2) it asks whether the constitutional trial error at issue had a " 'substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict,' " Brecht, 507 U. S., at 637 (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U. S. 750, 776 (1946)); and (3) if the judge has grave doubt about whether the error was harmless, the uncertain judge should conclude that the error affected the jury's deliberations and grant relief, see O'Neal v. McAninch, 513 U. S. 432 (1995).
In this case, it is undisputed that both the District Court and the Court of Appeals made a thorough examination of the entire record. The District Court's 117-page opinion carefully analyzed each of the respondent's nonfrivolous attacks on his conviction and concluded that the judgment of guilt should stand. With respect to the death penalty, however, the District Judge decided that the inaccurate and misleading instruction describing the Governor's com-1 Pet. for Cert. i.
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