Court Opinion

ID: 9430190
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:10.334022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:23.597585
License: Public Domain

*685Justice White,
with whom The Chief Justice and Justice Rehnquist join, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I agree with the Court that respondent is not entitled to have his conviction overturned unless he can show that the evidence withheld by the Government was “material,” and I therefore join Parts I and II of the Court’s opinion. I also agree with Justice Blackmun that for purposes of this inquiry, “evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” Ante, at 682. As the Justice correctly observes, this standard is “sufficiently flexible” to cover all instances of prosecutorial failure to disclose evidence favorable to the accused. Ibid. Given the flexibility of the standard and the inherently fact-bound nature of the cases to which it will be applied, however, I see no reason to attempt to elaborate on the relevance to the inquiry of the specificity of the defense’s request for disclosure, either generally or with respect to this case. I would hold simply that the proper standard is one of reasonable probability and that the Court of Appeals’ failure to apply this standard necessitates reversal. I therefore concur in the judgment.