Witherspoon v. Illinois

391 U.S. 510 · Decided June 3, 1968 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Witherspoon v. Illinois was decided on June 3, 1968 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice Potter Stewart wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Extra-legal jury influences, jurors and 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

Witherspoon v. Illinois et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1967-147, docket 1967-147-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Extra-legal jury influences, jurors and death penalty”

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  391 U.S. 543Decided June 3, 19687–2Potter Stewart
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  392 U.S. 647Decided June 17, 19686–3Per curiam
• Spence v. North Carolina
  392 U.S. 649Decided June 17, 19686–3Per curiam
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  398 U.S. 262Decided June 1, 19706–1Per curiam
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  402 U.S. 183Decided May 3, 19716–3John M. Harlan II
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  429 U.S. 122Decided December 6, 19766–3Per curiam

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Cases on the same legal provision: Sixth Amendment (other provisions)

• Parker v. Gladden
  385 U.S. 363Decided December 12, 19668–1Per curiam
• Sheppard v. Maxwell
  384 U.S. 333Decided June 6, 19668–1Tom C. Clark
• Groppi v. WisconsinLaw held unconstitutional
  400 U.S. 505Decided January 25, 19718–1Potter Stewart
• Estes v. Texas
  381 U.S. 532Decided June 7, 19655–4Tom C. Clark
• Irvin v. Dowd
  366 U.S. 717Decided June 5, 19619–0Tom C. Clark
• Levine v. United States
  362 U.S. 610Decided May 23, 19605–4Felix Frankfurter

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Bitter v. United States
  389 U.S. 15Decided October 16, 19678–0Per curiam
• Roberts v. United States
  389 U.S. 18Decided October 16, 19677–1Per curiam
• Wood v. United States
  389 U.S. 20Decided October 16, 19677–1Per curiam
• Pinto v. Pierce
  389 U.S. 31Decided October 23, 19679–0Per curiam
• Beecher v. Alabama
  389 U.S. 35Decided October 23, 19679–0Per curiam
• Garner v. Yeager
  389 U.S. 86Decided November 6, 19679–0Per curiam

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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