Billy Joe Magwood v. Tony Patterson, Warden, et al.

Decided June 24, 2010. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 09-158 · 561 U.S. 320 (2010) · Cited 932 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 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.

• Panetti v. Quarterman · 551 U.S. 930 (2007)
• Burton v. Stewart · 549 U.S. 147 (2007)
• Slack v. McDaniel · 529 U.S. 473 (2000)
• Wilkinson v. Dotson · 544 U.S. 74 (2005)
• Ford v. Wainwright · 477 U.S. 399 (1986)
• McCleskey v. Zant · 499 U.S. 467 (1991)
• Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal · 523 U.S. 637 (1998)
• Wong Doo v. United States · 265 U.S. 239 (1924)
• Woodard v. Hutchins · 464 U.S. 377 (1984)
• Miller-El v. Cockrell · 537 U.S. 322 (2003)
• Artuz v. Bennett · 531 U.S. 4 (2000)
• Castro v. United States · 540 U.S. 375 (2003)
• Coleman v. Thompson · 501 U.S. 722 (1991)
• Schlup v. Delo · 513 U.S. 298 (1995)
• O'Sullivan v. Boerckel · 526 U.S. 838 (1999)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Gonzalez v. Crosby · 545 U.S. 524 (2005)
• Sanders v. United States · 373 U.S. 1 (1963)
• Felker v. Turpin · 518 U.S. 651 (1996)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Salinger v. Loisel · 265 U.S. 224 (1924)

Cited by

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

• Banister v. Davis · 590 U.S. 504 (2020)
• Henson v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. · 582 U.S. 79 (2017)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta · 597 U.S. 629 (2022)
• Pulsifer v. United States · 601 U.S. 124 (2024)
• Kappos v. Hyatt · 566 U.S. 431 (2012)
• Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors · 603 U.S. 799 (2024)
• Rivers v. Guerrero · 605 U.S. 443 (2025)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2010). 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).