Stone v. Powell

Media Items
Oral Argument
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Opinion Announcement
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Oral Argument (No. 74-1222)
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Advocates
William C. Cunningham (Argued the cause for the respondent Rice)
Melvin Kent Kammerlohr (Argued the cause for the petitioner Wolff)
Robert W. Peterson (By appointment of the Court, argued the cause for the respondent Powell)
Robert R. Granucci (Argued the cause for the petitioner Stone)
Case Basics
Docket No.: 
74-1055
Petitioner: 
Stone
Respondent: 
Powell
Consolidation: 
No. 74-1222
Decided By: 
Burger Court (1975-1981)
Opinion: 
428 U.S. 465 (1976)

Cite this page
The Oyez Project, Stone v. Powell , 428 U.S. 465 (1976)
available at: (http://oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1975/1975_74_1055)
Facts of the Case: 

Lloyd Powell was convicted of murder by a California court. Powell sought relief in federal district court by filing a writ of federal habeas corpus. Powell claimed that the search that uncovered the murder weapon was unlawful and that the evidence should have been inadmissible at trial. This case was decided together with Wolf v. Rice.

Question: 

Were federal courts obligated to consider claims of illegal searches and seizures after such claims had been decided by state courts?

Conclusion: 

In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court held that where states had provided opportunities for full and fair litigation of Fourth Amendment claims, the Constitution did not require the granting of federal habeas corpus relief. The Court also held that any additional benefits from considering search and seizure claims of state prisoners on collateral review would be small in relation to the costs. The Court found that the Fourth Amendment values protected by the exclusionary rule would not be significantly enhanced in such situations and that deterrence of police misconduct was unlikely to increase.

Decisions

Decision: 6 votes for Stone, 3 vote(s) against
Legal provision: 28 USC 2241-2255 (habeas corpus)

Sort by Ideology

Wrote a regular concurrence
Burger
Wrote a dissent
Brennan
Voted with the majority
Stewart
Wrote a dissent
White
Voted with the minority, joined Brennan's dissent
Marshall
Voted with the majority
Blackmun
Wrote the majority opinion
Powell
Voted with the majority
Rehnquist
Voted with the majority
Stevens

Full Opinion by Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.