Bruce E. Ellis v. Amos E. Reed, Secretary of Corrections, and the Attorney General of the State of North Carolina

I respectfully dissent.

There is no dispute between the majority and me that Brasfield v. United States, 272 U.S. 448, 47 S.Ct. 135, 71 L.Ed. 345 (1926), does not invalidate the state conviction in the instant case unless Brasfield was decided on constitutional grounds. Although the question is certainly not free from doubt, I, unlike the majority, think that application of the authority which controls our decision leads to the conclusion that the Brasfield rule is a rule of constitutional interpretation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and it is therefore applicable to the…