United States v. Wilson

421 U.S. 309 · Decided May 19, 1975 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. Wilson was decided on May 19, 1975 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Contempt of court or Congress” 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

United States v. Wilson et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1974-093, docket 1974-093-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Contempt of court or Congress”

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  419 U.S. 449Decided January 15, 19759–0Warren E. Burger
• Codispoti v. Pennsylvania
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• Eaton v. City of Tulsa
  415 U.S. 697Decided March 25, 19746–3Per curiam
• In re Little
  404 U.S. 553Decided January 24, 19729–0Per curiam
• Johnson v. Mississippi
  403 U.S. 212Decided June 7, 19719–0Per curiam
• Mayberry v. Pennsylvania
  400 U.S. 455Decided January 20, 19719–0William O. Douglas

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Cases on the same legal provision: Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure

• Rogers v. United States
  422 U.S. 35Decided June 17, 19759–0Warren E. Burger
• Taylor v. United States
  414 U.S. 17Decided November 5, 19739–0Per curiam
• Davis v. United States
  411 U.S. 233Decided April 17, 19736–3William H. Rehnquist
• Douglas Oil Company of California v. Petrol Stops Northwest
  441 U.S. 211Decided April 18, 19796–3Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• United States v. Timmreck
  441 U.S. 780Decided May 21, 19799–0John Paul Stevens
• Halliday v. United States
  394 U.S. 831Decided May 5, 19697–2Per curiam

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Ring v. United States
  419 U.S. 18Decided November 11, 19749–0Per curiam
• Francisco v. Gathright
  419 U.S. 59Decided November 19, 19749–0Per curiam
• Maness v. Meyers
  419 U.S. 449Decided January 15, 19759–0Warren E. Burger
• Test v. United States
  420 U.S. 28Decided January 27, 19759–0Per curiam
• Daniel v. Louisiana
  420 U.S. 31Decided January 27, 19758–1Per curiam
• Gerstein v. Pugh
  420 U.S. 103Decided February 18, 19759–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.

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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