Burnham V. Superior Court of California - Justice Stevens's Opinion

Justice Stevens's Opinion

In a separate opinion concurring in the judgment, Justice John Paul Stevens stated that he declined to join either Justice Scalia's or Justice Brennan's opinion because he was "concerned by unnecessarily broad reach." Stevens stated that the historical evidence cited by Scalia, the considerations of fairness discussed by Brennan, and the common sense of Justice White's concurrence, "all combine to demonstrate that this is, indeed, a very easy case." In a footnote, Stevens mused that "erhaps the adage about hard cases making bad law should be revised to cover easy cases."

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