In Greene v. United States (1958), the Supreme Court ruled on a case involving double jeopardy, which is being tried twice for the same offense. The petitioner, Greene, was initially convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S government and sentenced to five years in prison. However, his conviction was reversed by an appellate court due to insufficient evidence. Subsequently, he was retried and found guilty again but this time with additional charges that led him to receive a longer sentence than before - eight years imprisonment instead of five. Greene appealed this decision arguing that it violated his Fifth Amendment rights against double jeopardy as he had been punished more severely during his second trial for essentially the same crime. The Supreme Court disagreed with Greene's argument stating that when a defendant successfully appeals their initial conviction based on insufficiency of evidence or any other reason unrelated to guilt or innocence; they are not protected from receiving harsher sentences if reconvicted at a new trial.

In the dissenting opinion for Greene v. United States, Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision to overturn Greene's conviction was based on a misinterpretation of Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. He contended that this rule should not be used to reverse convictions where there is overwhelming evidence against the defendant and any error made during trial did not affect their substantial rights or result in a miscarriage of justice. In his view, even if there were errors in admitting certain evidence at Greene’s trial, these mistakes were harmless given other compelling proof supporting his guilt. Therefore, he believed it would be more just and efficient to affirm Greene’s conviction rather than ordering a new trial.