Whether a guilty plea is structural error?

QUESTION PRESENTED This Court has long held that, for a guilty plea to satisfy constitutional due process requirements, the defendant must have been informed of all elements of the offense. Following this Court’s recent decision in Rehaif v. United States, the Eleventh Circuit held that it may decide whether a defendant who pleaded guilty without knowledge of an element would have pleaded guilty anyway, rendering the error harmless. The Eighth Circuit has put it more starkly, “hold[ing] that [a] guilty plea is not structural error.” The Second, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits have held likewise. Only the Fourth Circuit has held the opposite, concluding that such a plea constitutes structural error. This circuit split implicates the continuing validity of Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 437 (1976). The question presented is: Whether a guilty plea” is structural error?