United States v. Lane

474 U.S. 438 · Decided January 27, 1986 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. Lane was decided on January 27, 1986 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision in part, reversed or vacated it in part, and remanded the case. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure” in the Criminal Procedure area. SCDB codes this decision as formally altering one or more of the Court's own precedents.

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

United States v. Lane et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1985-029, docket 1985-029-01.

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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