Cite as: 535 U. S. 55 (2002)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
the Government.1 No one even argued that the defendant should have the burden of proving prejudice.2 The Court's conclusion that "prejudice inheres in a failure to comply with Rule 11" was uncontroversial.3 Id., at 471.
During the years preceding the 1983 amendment to Rule 11, it was generally understood that noncompliance with Rule 11 in direct appeal cases required automatic reversal. See Advisory Committee's Notes on 1983 Amendments to Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 11, 18 U. S. C. App., p. 1568 (herein-after Advisory Committee's Notes) (citing United States v. Boone, 543 F. 2d 1090 (CA4 1976); United States v. Journet, 544 F. 2d 633 (CA2 1976)). Thus, prior to the addition of Rule 11(h), neither plain-error 4 nor harmless-error review applied to Rule 11 violations. Rejecting McCarthy's "ex-1 McCarthy was decided 15 years after the adoption of Rule 52, and yet neither the parties nor the Court discussed the application of that Rule despite the fact that the defendant had failed to object to the Rule 11 error.
2 Nor did the Government make such an argument in the Court of Appeals in this case. That should be a sufficient reason for refusing to consider the argument here, see United States v. Williams, 504 U. S. 36, 55-61 (1992) (Stevens, J., dissenting), but, as in Williams, the Court finds it appropriate to accord "a special privilege for the Federal Government," id., at 59.
3 "We thus conclude that prejudice inheres in a failure to comply with Rule 11, for noncompliance deprives the defendant of the Rule's procedural safeguards that are designed to facilitate a more accurate determination of the voluntariness of his plea." McCarthy, 394 U. S., at 471-472. Not a word in the proceedings that led to the amendment rejecting the automatic reversal remedy questioned the validity of the proposition that every violation of the Rule is presumptively prejudicial. The amendment merely gives the Government the opportunity to overcome that presumption.
4 Rule 52(b) states: "Plain errors or defects affecting substantial rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the attention of the court." When a court reviews for plain error, the burden is on the defendant to show that the error affected his substantial rights. United States v. Olano, 507 U. S. 725, 734-735 (1993).
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