Court Opinion

ID: 9428328
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:23:26.19533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:12.854516
License: Public Domain

Justice Powell,
with whom Justice Brennan joins, concurring.
I agree that the writ should be dismissed because petitioner did not raise her federal constitutional challenge in the Georgia courts. I join the Court’s opinion with the understanding, however, that the broad statements in it are not to be taken as departing from the rule, reaffirmed just this Term, that the Court has jurisdiction to review plain error unchallenged in the state court when necessary to prevent fundamental unfairness. Wood v. Georgia, 450 U. S. 261, 265, n. 5 (1981). See also, Vachon v. New Hampshire, 414 U. S. 478 (1974) (finding plain error in an appeal from a state court).