"That's precisely when an individual needs the protection of the double jeopardy clause."

Mistrials are generally not covered by the double jeopardy clause.

Nor can he be retried in state court for murder, because of the double jeopardy clause.

The double jeopardy clause prohibits multiple punishments for the same offense.

He expressed, he said, "no opinion whatsoever" about the cases themselves or how the double jeopardy clause might apply to them.

The ruling "weakens the fundamental protections the double jeopardy clause was intended to provide," he said.

The double jeopardy clause of the Constitution forbids the Government to bring two actions against a defendant for the same charges.

Appeals courts have ruled that if a prosecutor's error is intentional, the double jeopardy clause applies and another trial cannot be held.

It was to avoid political pressures for reprosecution that the double jeopardy clause was adopted.

Burton next argued that his prosecution violated the Double Jeopardy Clause.