Carman L. Deck v. Missouri

Decided May 23, 2005. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-5293 · 544 U.S. 622 (2005) · Cited 1,034 times

Holding

The Constitution forbids the use of visible shackles during a capital trial’s penalty phase, as it does during the guilt phase, unless that use is “justified by an essential state interest”—such as courtroom security— specific to the defendant on trial.

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.

• Holbrook v. Flynn · 475 U.S. 560 (1986)
• Illinois v. Allen · 397 U.S. 337 (1970)
• Estelle v. Williams · 425 U.S. 501 (1976)
• Riggins v. Nevada · 504 U.S. 127 (1992)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• Monge v. California · 524 U.S. 721 (1998)
• Faretta v. California · 422 U.S. 806 (1975)
• Apprendi v. New Jersey · 530 U.S. 466 (2000)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Lockett v. Ohio · 438 U.S. 586 (1978)
• Zant v. Stephens · 462 U.S. 862 (1983)
• Gardner v. Florida · 430 U.S. 349 (1977)
• Estes v. Texas · 381 U.S. 532 (1965)
• Medina v. California · 505 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Martinez v. Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District · 528 U.S. 152 (2000)
• Sochor v. Florida · 504 U.S. 527 (1992)

Cited by

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

• Lawrence v. Florida · 549 U.S. 327 (2007)
• Brown v. Davenport · 596 U.S. 118 (2022)
• McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky. · 545 U.S. 844 (2005)
• Kelo v. City of New London · 545 U.S. 469 (2005)
• Brown v. Sanders · 546 U.S. 212 (2006)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).