In Bullington v. Missouri, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a defendant who had been acquitted of capital punishment could not be sentenced to death in a retrial for the same crime due to the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The case involved Ronald Bullington, who was convicted of murder but spared from death penalty by jury during his first trial. When he appealed and won a new trial on other grounds, prosecutors again sought capital punishment; however, this time they were successful in securing it. In response, Bullington argued that seeking death penalty after being previously acquitted constituted double jeopardy - an argument which was rejected by both state courts and federal district court before reaching Supreme Court level where it found favor with majority justices.

In the dissenting opinion for Bullington v. Missouri, Justice White argued that the majority's decision was inconsistent with previous rulings and could potentially disrupt sentencing practices across many states. He contended that a capital sentencing proceeding is not equivalent to a trial but rather an extension of it, thus double jeopardy protections should not apply in this context. The justice also expressed concern about how this ruling might affect non-capital cases where defendants are sentenced by juries instead of judges; he feared it may lead to unnecessary complications and inconsistencies in future legal proceedings. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority’s interpretation of North Carolina v. Pearce (1969), arguing that its precedent did not support their conclusion.