Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. John Doe
538 U.S. 1 · Decided March 5, 2003 · Supreme Court of the United States
At a glance
Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. John Doe was decided on March 5, 2003 unanimously (9–0). The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Ex post facto (state)” in the Criminal Procedure area.
Read the opinion
Case details
- Citations
- 538 U.S. 1 · 123 S. Ct. 1160 · 155 L. Ed. 2d 98 · 2003 U.S. LEXIS 1951
- Docket number
- 01-1231
- Decided
- March 5, 2003
- Argued
- November 13, 2002
- Court era
- Rehnquist Court
- Decision type
- Opinion of the Court (orally argued)
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome for petitioner
- The petitioning party received a favorable disposition
- Vote
- 9–0 (unanimous)
- Majority opinion
- William H. Rehnquist
- Opinion assigned by
- William H. Rehnquist
- How the case arrived
- Certiorari
- Issue (SCDB)
- Ex post facto (state)
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Legal provision
- Fourteenth Amendment (due process)
- Type of law
- Constitutional amendment
- Decision direction (SCDB)
- Conservative what this means
How the Justices voted
| Justice | Vote | Separate writing |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist | Majority | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice John Paul Stevens | Special concurrence | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Sandra Day O'Connor | Majority | |
| Justice Antonin Scalia | Concurrence | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Anthony M. Kennedy | Majority | |
| Justice David H. Souter | Concurrence | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Clarence Thomas | Majority | |
| Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Concurrence | |
| Justice Stephen G. Breyer | Majority |
Full case caption
Connecticut Department of Public Safety, et al. v. John Doe, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated
SCDB identifiers: case 2002-027, docket 2002-027-01.
Related decisions
Other cases on “Ex post facto (state)”
- Delbert W. Smith and Bruce M. Botelho v. John Doe I
- Marion Reynolds Stogner v. CaliforniaLaw held unconstitutional
- J. Wayne Garner v. Robert L. Jones
- Kenneth Lynce v. Hamilton MathisLaw held unconstitutional
- California Department of Corrections v. Jose Ramon Morales
- Collins v. YoungbloodAltered precedent
Cases on the same legal provision: Fourteenth Amendment (due process)
- City of Cuyahoga Falls v. Buckeye Community Hope Foundation
- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Inez Preece Campbell and Matthew C. Barneck
- City of Los Angeles v. Edwin F. David
- Clyde Timothy Bunkley v. Florida
- John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner v. TexasAltered precedentLaw held unconstitutional
- Illinois v. Gregory Fisher
Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)
- Richard E. Early v. William Packer
- Jeanne Woodford v. John Louis Visciotti
- Abu-Ali Abdur'rahman v. Ricky Bell
- David Allen Sattazahn v. Pennsylvania
- United States v. Francisco Jimenez Recio and Adrian Lopez-Meza
- Thomas Joe Miller-El v. Janie Cockrell
Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error