Fairness Over Fortuity: Retroactivity Revisited and Revised

The significance of a judicial opinion is not limited to the litigants before the court, particularly when the opinion is that of the United States Supreme Court construing the criminal rights amendments to the Constitution. Often other litigants with claims identical to the claim the Court resolved will seek the advantage of the new ruling. This advantage is obtained when the Court extends a ruling to those who, but for fortuitous circumstances, might have been before the Court, thereby receiving the immediate benefit of the decision.