by John Marshall Harlan

“ Conversely, if federal habeas relief is denied on the merits, as it now is by this Court, the energies of the federal courts have been expended to no good purpose.
To justify such a serious interference with the State's powers to enforce its criminal law and the ability of federal courts to provide full, fair, and prompt hearings to those who have no other forum available should require the presence of a most substantial countervailing societal interest. But what interest is conceivably promoted by further adjudication of the contentions respondent urges upon us? ”

“ Surely, indulging his claims does not serve the function of assuring that state courts properly apply governing constitutional standards. For this is precisely what the California courts did in this case. ”

“ Even were this a tenable position, the fact is, as the Court notes, that respondent is actually seeking an extension of the Bruton holding. More importantly, for me such an 'infallibility' argument could rest on nothing more than the fanciful notion that perception of ultimate constitutional verity is always to be found in those who 'came after' to this Court.
Such a drastic disruption of judicial processes and alteration of our traditional federal-state balance should be supported by more persuasive considerations than those which led the Court in Roberts v. ”