Benjamin Lee Lilly v. Virginia

Decided June 10, 1999. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 98-5881 · 527 U.S. 116 (1999) · Cited 1,183 times

Holding

The judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Lee v. Illinois · 476 U.S. 530 (1986)
• White v. Illinois · 502 U.S. 346 (1992)
• Dutton v. Evans · 400 U.S. 74 (1970)
• Ohio v. Roberts · 448 U.S. 56 (1980)
• Williamson v. United States · 512 U.S. 594 (1994)
• Bruton v. United States · 391 U.S. 123 (1968)
• Idaho v. Wright · 497 U.S. 805 (1990)
• California v. Green · 399 U.S. 149 (1970)
• Douglas v. Alabama · 380 U.S. 415 (1965)
• Gray v. Maryland · 523 U.S. 185 (1998)
• Maryland v. Craig · 497 U.S. 836 (1990)
• Cruz v. New York · 481 U.S. 186 (1987)
• Chambers v. Mississippi · 410 U.S. 284 (1973)
• Anderson v. City of Bessemer City · 470 U.S. 564 (1985)
• Crawford v. United States · 212 U.S. 183 (1909)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)
• Ornelas v. United States · 517 U.S. 690 (1996)
• Pointer v. Texas · 380 U.S. 400 (1965)
• Richardson v. Marsh · 481 U.S. 200 (1987)
• Bourjaily v. United States · 483 U.S. 171 (1987)
• Salve Regina College v. Russell · 499 U.S. 225 (1991)
• Taylor v. Illinois · 484 U.S. 400 (1988)
• Donnelly v. United States · 228 U.S. 243 (1913)
• Salinger v. United States · 272 U.S. 542 (1926)
• National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Smith · 525 U.S. 459 (1999)
• West v. Gibson · 527 U.S. 212 (1999)

Cited by

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

• Crawford v. Washington · 541 U.S. 36 (2004)
• Davis v. Washington · 547 U.S. 813 (2006)
• Brown v. Plata · 563 U.S. 493 (2011)
• Smith v. Arizona · 602 U.S. 779 (2024)
• Hemphill v. New York · 595 U.S. 140 (2022)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1999). 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).