Aaron Lindh v. James P. Murphy, Warden

Decided June 23, 1997. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 96-6298 · 521 U.S. 320 (1997) · Cited 4,248 times

Holding

Since the new provisions of chapter 153 generally apply only to cases filed after the Act became effective, they do not apply to pending noncapital cases such as Lindh’s.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• United States v. Williams · 514 U.S. 527 (1995)
• Preiser v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 475 (1973)
• Rose v. Lundy · 455 U.S. 509 (1982)
• Sumner v. Mata · 449 U.S. 539 (1981)
• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Schumer · 520 U.S. 939 (1997)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Wainwright v. Sykes · 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
• Stone v. Powell · 428 U.S. 465 (1976)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Brown v. Allen · 344 U.S. 443 (1953)
• Collins v. Youngblood · 497 U.S. 37 (1990)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Dobbert v. Florida · 432 U.S. 282 (1977)
• Field v. Mans · 516 U.S. 59 (1995)
• Carafas v. LaVallee · 391 U.S. 234 (1968)
• Felker v. Turpin · 518 U.S. 651 (1996)
• Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Bonjorno · 494 U.S. 827 (1990)
• Beazell v. Ohio · 269 U.S. 167 (1925)
• Automobile Club of Mich. v. Commissioner · 353 U.S. 180 (1957)
• Hall v. Beals · 396 U.S. 45 (1969)
• Ex Parte Collett · 337 U.S. 55 (1949)
• Lane v. Williams · 455 U.S. 624 (1982)
• Horning v. District of Columbia · 254 U.S. 135 (1920)
• Republic National Bank of Miami v. United States · 506 U.S. 80 (1992)
• Hallowell v. Commons · 239 U.S. 506 (1916)
• Graham & Foster v. Goodcell · 282 U.S. 409 (1931)
• Gusik v. Schilder · 340 U.S. 128 (1950)
• Bruner v. United States · 343 U.S. 112 (1952)
• Arkansas v. Farm Credit Services of Central Arkansas · 520 U.S. 821 (1997)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld · 548 U.S. 557 (2006)
• Woodford v. Garceau · 538 U.S. 202 (2003)
• Slack v. McDaniel · 529 U.S. 473 (2000)
• Martin v. Hadix · 527 U.S. 343 (1999)
• Fernandez-Vargas v. Gonzales · 548 U.S. 30 (2006)
• Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. · 557 U.S. 167 (2009)
• Miller-El v. Dretke · 545 U.S. 231 (2005)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 362 (2000)
• Smith v. Robbins · 528 U.S. 259 (2000)
• Republic of Austria v. Altmann · 541 U.S. 677 (2004)
• Gomez-Perez v. Potter · 553 U.S. 474 (2008)
• Harrington v. Richter · 562 U.S. 86 (2011)
• Wiggins v. Smith, Warden · 539 U.S. 510 (2003)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr · 533 U.S. 289 (2001)
• Schriro v. Summerlin · 542 U.S. 348 (2004)
• Woodford v. Visciotti · 537 U.S. 19 (2002)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 420 (2000)
• Banks v. Dretke · 540 U.S. 668 (2004)
• Bradshaw v. Stumpf · 545 U.S. 175 (2005)
• Bobby v. Van Hook · 558 U.S. 4 (2009)
• Bell v. Cone · 543 U.S. 447 (2005)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Jefferson v. Upton · 560 U.S. 284 (2010)
• Brown v. Sanders · 546 U.S. 212 (2006)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1997). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).