Cite as: 527 U. S. 1 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
v. Gaudin, 515 U. S. 506 (1995), in failing to submit the materiality element of the tax offense to the jury. It concluded, however, that the error was subject to harmless-error analysis and, further, that the error was harmless because "materiality was not in dispute," 136 F. 3d, at 1465, and thus the error " 'did not contribute to the verdict obtained,' " ibid. (quoting Yates v. Evatt, 500 U. S. 391, 403 (1991)). The Court of Appeals also held that materiality is not an element of the mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud statutes, and thus the District Court did not err in failing to submit the question of materiality to the jury.
We granted certiorari, 525 U. S. 928 (1998), to resolve a conflict in the Courts of Appeals on two questions: (1) whether, and under what circumstances, the omission of an element from the judge's charge to the jury can be harmless error, and (2) whether materiality is an element of the federal mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud statutes.
II
Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs direct appeals from judgments of conviction in the federal system, provides that "[a]ny error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded." Although this Rule by its terms applies to all errors where a proper objection is made at trial, we have recognized a limited class of fundamental constitutional errors that "defy analysis by 'harmless error' standards." Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U. S. 279, 309 (1991); see Chapman v. California, 386 U. S., at 23. Errors of this type are so intrinsically harmful as to require automatic reversal (i. e., "affect substantial rights") without regard to their effect on the outcome. For all other constitutional errors, reviewing courts must apply Rule 52(a)'s harmless-error analysis and must "disregar[d]" errors that are harmless "beyond a reasonable doubt." Id., at 24.
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