Antonio Dwayne Halbert v. Michigan

Decided June 23, 2005. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 03-10198 · 545 U.S. 605 (2005) · Cited 472 times

Holding

The Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses require the appointment of counsel for defendants, convicted on their pleas, who seek access to first-tier review in the Michigan Court of Appeals.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Douglas v. California · 372 U.S. 353 (1963)
• Ross v. Moffitt · 417 U.S. 600 (1974)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Kowalski v. Tesmer · 543 U.S. 125 (2004)
• M. L. B. v. S. L. J. · 519 U.S. 102 (1996)
• Swenson v. Bosler · 386 U.S. 258 (1967)
• United States v. Mezzanatto · 513 U.S. 196 (1995)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Evitts v. Lucey · 469 U.S. 387 (1985)
• New York v. Hill · 528 U.S. 110 (2000)
• Brady v. United States · 397 U.S. 742 (1970)
• Pennsylvania v. Finley · 481 U.S. 551 (1987)
• Iowa v. Tovar · 541 U.S. 77 (2004)
• Rinaldi v. Yeager · 384 U.S. 305 (1966)
• McKane v. Durston · 153 U.S. 684 (1894)
• Anders v. California · 386 U.S. 738 (1967)
• United States v. Booker · 543 U.S. 220 (2005)
• Blakely v. Washington · 542 U.S. 296 (2004)
• Coleman v. Thompson · 501 U.S. 722 (1991)
• Faretta v. California · 422 U.S. 806 (1975)
• Johnson v. Zerbst · 304 U.S. 458 (1938)
• Powell v. Alabama · 287 U.S. 45 (1932)
• Tollett v. Henderson · 411 U.S. 258 (1973)
• Adams v. United States Ex Rel. McCann · 317 U.S. 269 (1943)
• Peretz v. United States · 501 U.S. 923 (1991)
• Wainwright v. Torna · 455 U.S. 586 (1982)
• Murray v. Giarratano · 492 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Smith v. Bennett · 365 U.S. 708 (1961)
• Burns v. Ohio · 360 U.S. 252 (1959)
• Alabama v. Shelton · 535 U.S. 654 (2002)

Cited by

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

• Martinez v. Ryan · 566 U.S. 1 (2012)
• Davila v. Davis · 582 U.S. 521 (2017)
• Lafler v. Cooper · 566 U.S. 156 (2012)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2005). 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).