In Brolan v. United States (1914), the U.S Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a man who had been found guilty of selling liquor to Native Americans in violation of federal law. The defendant, John Brolan, argued that his conviction should be overturned because he was not given an opportunity to challenge the legality of evidence used against him during his trial. He also claimed that there were errors in jury instructions and that certain evidence was improperly admitted at trial. However, the Supreme Court rejected these arguments and affirmed Brolan's conviction on all counts. The court ruled that even if some procedural mistakes occurred during Brolan's trial, they did not affect its overall fairness or outcome.

In the dissenting opinion for Brolan v. United States, it was argued that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated due to an improper jury instruction. The justice believed that by instructing the jury they could consider evidence of other crimes committed by the defendant, which were not related to or part of his current charges, prejudiced him and potentially influenced their decision unfairly. This went against his right to a fair trial as guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment. Furthermore, it was contended that this error in instruction wasn't harmless but rather had substantial and injurious effect on determining members' verdicts in favor of conviction; hence should have been grounds for reversal.