Court Opinion

ID: 9427415
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:20:38.015995+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:06.920010
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Powell,
concurring in the judgments.*
As I noted in my concurrence in Hankerson v. North Carolina, 432 U. S. 233, 246 (1977), the Court’s attempt to fashion a satisfactory retroactivity doctrine in the years since Linkletter v. Walker, 381 U. S. 618 (1965), has not succeeded. I adhere to the view expressed in Hankerson that the wisest approach to this problem is that outlined by Mr. Justice Harlan in Mackey v. United States, 401 U. S. 667, 675-702 (1971). That approach “contemplates, in rough outline, that courts apply a new rule retroactively in cases still pending on direct review, whereas cases on collateral review ordinarily would be considered in light of the rule as it stood when the conviction became final.” Hankerson, supra, at 248. As all of these cases are before us on direct review, the application to them of the principles announced in Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U. S. 522 (1975), and Duren v. Missouri, ante, p. 357, is proper. Accordingly, I concur in the judgments of the Court.

[This opinion applies also to No. 77-6066, Lee v. Missouri; No. 77-6068, Minor v. Missouri; No. 77-6553, Arrington v. Missouri; No. 77-6701, Burnfin v. Missouri; and No. 77-7012, Combs v. Missouri, all post, p. 461.]