Charles Russell Rhines v. Douglas Weber, Warden

Decided March 30, 2005. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 03-9046 · 544 U.S. 269 (2005) · Cited 3,877 times

Holding

A district court has discretion to stay a mixed petition to allow a petitioner to present his unexhausted claims to the state court in the first instance and then to return to federal court for review of his perfected petition.

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.

• Rose v. Lundy · 455 U.S. 509 (1982)
• Duncan v. Walker · 533 U.S. 167 (2001)
• Slack v. McDaniel · 529 U.S. 473 (2000)
• Landis v. North American Co. · 299 U.S. 248 (1936)
• Clinton v. Jones · 520 U.S. 681 (1997)
• Darr v. Burford · 339 U.S. 200 (1950)
• Woodford v. Garceau · 538 U.S. 202 (2003)

Cited by

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

• Panetti v. Quarterman · 551 U.S. 930 (2007)
• Banister v. Davis · 590 U.S. 504 (2020)
• Ryan v. Valencia Gonzales · 568 U.S. 57 (2013)
• Jones v. Bock · 549 U.S. 199 (2007)
• Lawrence v. Florida · 549 U.S. 327 (2007)
• Walker v. Martin · 562 U.S. 307 (2011)
• Day v. McDonough · 547 U.S. 198 (2006)
• Ramirez v. Collier · 595 U.S. 411 (2022)
• Mayle v. Felix · 545 U.S. 644 (2005)
• Burton v. Stewart · 549 U.S. 147 (2007)
• District Attorney's Office for the Third Judicial District v. Osborne · 557 U.S. 52 (2009)
• Harbison v. Bell · 556 U.S. 180 (2009)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• Wall v. Kholi · 562 U.S. 545 (2011)

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).