McKoy v. North Carolina

494 U.S. 433 · Decided March 5, 1990 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

McKoy v. North Carolina was decided on March 5, 1990 by a vote of 6–3. The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty” in the Criminal Procedure area. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.

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

McKoy v. North Carolina

SCDB identifiers: case 1989-045, docket 1989-045-01.

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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