Nguyen v. United States — Rehnquist, J., dissenting

Summary

Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justices Scalia, Ginsburg, and Breyer, dissents from the majority decision to vacate petitioners’ convictions. Rehnquist argues that even assuming plain error occurred under Rule 52(b), the Court misapplied the standard by failing to determine whether the error seriously affected fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. He contends the error was forfeited because petitioners did not object timely, and vacatur would waste judicial resources without correcting a miscarriage of justice.