Whether the per se harmless-error rule adopted by the Florida Supreme Court violates precedents and the Eighth Amendment

QUESTION PRESENTED Whether the per se harmless-error rule adopted by the Florida Supreme Court, pursuant to which violations of Hurst v. Florida, 136 S.Ct. 616 (2016) are automatically deemed harmless beyond a reasonable doubt in every case in which the defendant’s advisory jury recommended the death penalty by a unanimous vote, rather than a majority vote, violates (1) this Court’s precedents prohibiting state courts from mechanically denying federal constitutional claims on harmless-error grounds without first conducting an individualized review of the record as a whole; and (2) the Eighth Amendment doctrine discouraging reliance on decisions made by jurors whose sense of responsibility for a death sentence was diminished. i