Sullivan v. Louisiana
- Decided
- June 1, 1993
- Docket
- 92-5129
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,512 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that an instructional error that lessens the burden of proof is considered structural and not subject to harmless error analysis — State v. Faulkner (2005)
- holding that the deprivation of a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury is a structural defect, not amenable to harmless error analysis — United States v. Jose P. Floresca (1994)
- holding that the giving of an erroneous reasonable doubt instruction can never be harmless error — State v. Pratt (1993)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented is whether a constitutionally deficient reasonable-doubt instruction may be harmless error.
I
Cite this
Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275 (1993)Read the full opinion
Free account needed
Reading the library on this site uses your account’s daily calls, the same as the connector and the API. The Free plan needs no card. Calls a day on each plan.