John Sullivan v. Louisiana

Decided June 1, 1993. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 92-5129 · 508 U.S. 275 (1993) · Cited 3,512 times

Holding

A constitutionally deficient reasonable-doubt instruction cannot be harmless error.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Rose v. Clark · 478 U.S. 570 (1986)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)
• Arizona v. Fulminante · 499 U.S. 279 (1991)
• Sandstrom v. Montana · 442 U.S. 510 (1979)
• Pope v. Illinois · 481 U.S. 497 (1987)
• Yates v. Evatt · 500 U.S. 391 (1991)
• In Re WINSHIP · 397 U.S. 358 (1970)
• Delaware v. Van Arsdall · 475 U.S. 673 (1986)
• Duncan v. Louisiana · 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
• Francis v. Franklin · 471 U.S. 307 (1985)
• Boyde v. California · 494 U.S. 370 (1990)
• Cage v. Louisiana · 498 U.S. 39 (1990)
• Sparf v. United States · 156 U.S. 51 (1895)
• Carella v. California · 491 U.S. 263 (1989)
• Estelle v. McGuire · 502 U.S. 62 (1991)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Patterson v. New York · 432 U.S. 197 (1977)
• Tumey v. Ohio · 273 U.S. 510 (1927)
• McKaskle v. Wiggins · 465 U.S. 168 (1984)
• Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg · 492 U.S. 33 (1989)
• United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co. · 430 U.S. 564 (1977)
• Leland v. Oregon · 343 U.S. 790 (1952)
• Bollenbach v. United States · 326 U.S. 607 (1946)
• Connecticut v. Johnson · 460 U.S. 73 (1983)
• United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America v. United States · 330 U.S. 395 (1947)
• Washington v. Confederated Bands & Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation · 439 U.S. 463 (1979)
• Cool v. United States · 409 U.S. 100 (1972)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Neder v. United States · 527 U.S. 1 (1999)
• Tyler v. Cain · 533 U.S. 656 (2001)
• Weaver v. Massachusetts · 582 U.S. 286 (2017)
• Washington v. Recuenco · 548 U.S. 212 (2006)
• United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
• Johnson v. United States · 520 U.S. 461 (1997)
• Mitchell v. Esparza · 540 U.S. 12 (2003)
• Hedgpeth v. Pulido · 555 U.S. 57 (2008)
• California v. Roy · 519 U.S. 2 (1996)
• United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez · 548 U.S. 140 (2006)
• Victor v. Nebraska · 511 U.S. 1 (1994)
• Erlinger v. United States · 602 U.S. 821 (2024)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Old Chief v. United States · 519 U.S. 172 (1997)
• Jones v. United States · 526 U.S. 227 (1999)
• McCoy v. Louisiana · 584 U.S. 414 (2018)
• Greer v. United States · 593 U.S. 503 (2021)
• Edwards v. Vannoy · 593 U.S. 255 (2021)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).