Cite as: 533 U. S. 656 (2001)
Breyer, J., dissenting
mortal and Case Two holds that Socrates is a man, we do not need Case Three to hold that Socrates is mortal. It is also a matter of law. If Case One holds that a party's expectation measures damages for breach of contract and Case Two holds that Circumstances X, Y, and Z create a binding contract, we do not need Case Three to hold that in those same circumstances expectation damages are awarded for breach. Ordinarily, in law, to hold that a set of circumstances falls within a particular legal category is simultaneously to hold that, other things being equal, the normal legal characteristics of members of that category apply to those circumstances.
The majority says that Sullivan's only "holding" is that Cage error is structural, and that this "holding" does not dictate the "watershed" nature of the Cage rule. See ante, at 665-666. But the majority fails to identify a meaningful difference between the definition of a watershed rule under Teague and the standard that we have articulated in the handful of instances in which we have held errors structural, namely, that structural errors deprive a defendant of a " 'basic protectio[n]' " without which a " 'trial cannot reliably serve its function as a vehicle for determination of guilt or innocence' " to the point where " 'no criminal punishment may be regarded as fundamentally fair.' " Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U. S. 279, 310 (1991) (quoting Rose v. Clark, 478 U. S. 570, 577-578 (1986)); see also Neder v. United States, 527 U. S. 1, 8 (1999) (identifying the six kinds of error, including Cage error, that have been held structural). In principle Teague also adds an element that "structural error" alone need not encompass, namely, the requirement that a violation of the rule must undermine accuracy. But that additional accuracy requirement poses no problem here, for our language in Sullivan could not have made clearer that Cage error seriously undermines the accuracy and reliability of a guilty verdict.
Of course, as the majority points out, identifying an error as structural need not "alter our understanding of th[e] fun-
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