William J. Burns v. United States

501 U.S. 129 · Decided June 13, 1991 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

William J. Burns v. United States was decided on June 13, 1991 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure” 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

William J. Burns v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1990-102, docket 1990-102-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure”

• Michael Crosby v. United States
  506 U.S. 255Decided January 13, 19939–0Harry A. Blackmun
• Gloria Zafiro v. United States
  506 U.S. 534Decided January 25, 19939–0Sandra Day O'Connor
• United States v. Guy W. Olano, Jr.
  507 U.S. 725Decided April 26, 19936–3Sandra Day O'Connor
• Fredel Williamson v. United States
  512 U.S. 594Decided June 27, 19949–0Sandra Day O'Connor
• Huddleston v. United States
  485 U.S. 681Decided May 2, 19889–0William H. Rehnquist
• Matthew Wayne Tome v. United States
  513 U.S. 150Decided January 10, 19955–4Anthony M. Kennedy

See all

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

• United States v. R. Enterprises, Inc.
  498 U.S. 292Decided January 22, 19919–0Sandra Day O'Connor
• Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States
  487 U.S. 250Decided June 22, 19888–1Anthony M. Kennedy
• Frederick Mathews v. United States
  485 U.S. 58Decided February 24, 19886–2William H. Rehnquist
• Young v. United States ex Rel. Vuitton et Fils S. A.
  481 U.S. 787Decided May 26, 19875–4William J. Brennan Jr.
• United States v. Christopher Lee Armstrong
  517 U.S. 456Decided May 13, 19968–1William H. Rehnquist
• William Bracy v. Richard B. Gramley
  520 U.S. 899Decided June 9, 19979–0William H. Rehnquist

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Robert Lee Shell v. Mississippi
  498 U.S. 1Decided October 29, 19908–0Per curiam
• Tommy Cage v. Louisiana
  498 U.S. 39Decided November 13, 19909–0Per curiam
• R. Dobie Langenkamp v. C. A. Culp
  498 U.S. 42Decided November 13, 19908–0Per curiam
• Raymond J. Moskal, Sr. v. United States
  498 U.S. 103Decided December 3, 19905–3Thurgood Marshall
• Robert S. Minnick v. Mississippi
  498 U.S. 146Decided December 3, 19906–2Anthony M. Kennedy
• Richard Demarest v. James
  498 U.S. 184Decided January 8, 19919–0William H. Rehnquist

See all

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