STEVENS, J., Concurring Opinion

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

441 U.S. 130

Burch v. Louisiana

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

MR. JUSTICE STEVENS, concurring.

Even though I have not changed the views I expressed in Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 198; Smith v. United States, 431 U.S. 291, 311-321; and Splawn v. California, 431 U.S. 595, 602-605, I do not believe that I have the authority to vote to modify the judgment below on a ground not fairly subsumed within the question presented by the petition for certiorari. ^[*] That question is whether conviction by a nonunanimous [p140] six-person jury of a nonpetty offense violates the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Because this is the only question addressed by the Court, and because I agree with the Court's resolution of this question, I join its opinion.

* See this Court's Rule 23(1)(C) ("Only the questions set forth in the petition or fairly comprised therein will be considered y the court"); Mazer v. Stein, 347 U.S. 201, 208, and n. 6; General Talking Pictures Corp. v. Western Electric Co, 304 U.S. 175, 177-179.