The case of Ludwig v. Massachusetts in 1975 revolved around the issue of a two-tier system for criminal trials, where defendants first faced a bench trial (trial by judge) and then had the option to appeal for a de novo jury trial (a new trial). The appellant, Ludwig, was convicted of assault and battery during his bench trial but was denied an appeal for a de novo jury trial due to not filing within statutory time limits. He argued that this denial violated his constitutional right to a fair trail under the Sixth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. However, the Supreme Court upheld Massachusetts' two-tier system as constitutional with Justice White delivering its opinion. The court ruled that while defendants have rights to both types of trials individually, they do not have an absolute right to demand them sequentially or in any particular order.

In the dissenting opinion for Ludwig v. Massachusetts, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a two-tier system of criminal trials in Massachusetts. He argued that this system violated defendants' constitutional rights by denying them an initial trial by jury and instead subjecting them to a bench trial before they could appeal for a jury trial. In his view, this process was not only inefficient but also fundamentally unfair because it forced defendants to essentially gamble on whether they would be better off with or without a jury at their first trial. Furthermore, he contended that there was no compelling state interest justifying such an infringement on defendants' rights since other states had managed to provide prompt and fair justice without resorting to similar measures.