Ham v. South Carolina

409 U.S. 524 · Decided January 17, 1973 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Ham v. South Carolina was decided on January 17, 1973 by a vote of 7–2. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Extra-legal jury influences, voir dire” in the Criminal Procedure area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Ham v. South Carolina

SCDB identifiers: case 1972-041, docket 1972-041-01.

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fourteenth Amendment (due process)

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Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

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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