Chiarella v. United States

Decided March 18, 1980. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-1202 · 445 U.S. 222 (1980) · Cited 1,089 times

Holding

Petitioner's conduct did not constitute a violation of 10(b), and hence his conviction was improper.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States · 406 U.S. 128 (1972)
• Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder · 425 U.S. 185 (1976)
• Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores · 421 U.S. 723 (1975)
• Santa Fe Industries, Inc. v. Green · 430 U.S. 462 (1977)
• United States v. Naftalin · 441 U.S. 768 (1979)
• Strong v. Repide · 213 U.S. 419 (1909)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Pepper v. Litton · 308 U.S. 295 (1939)
• Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington · 442 U.S. 560 (1979)
• Leary v. United States · 395 U.S. 6 (1969)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Superintendent of Insurance of New York v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co. · 404 U.S. 6 (1971)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc. · 375 U.S. 180 (1963)
• Piper v. Chris-Craft Industries, Inc. · 430 U.S. 1 (1977)
• Rewis v. United States · 401 U.S. 808 (1971)
• United States v. Park · 421 U.S. 658 (1975)
• Dunn v. United States · 442 U.S. 100 (1979)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Sloan · 436 U.S. 103 (1978)
• Coates v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 394 U.S. 976 (1969)
• Foremost-McKeeson, Inc. v. Provident Securities Co. · 423 U.S. 232 (1976)

Cited by

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

• United States v. O'Hagan · 521 U.S. 642 (1997)
• Dirks v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 463 U.S. 646 (1983)
• Central Bank of Denver, N. A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N. A. · 511 U.S. 164 (1994)
• Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. · 552 U.S. 148 (2008)
• Aaron v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 446 U.S. 680 (1980)
• Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. Moab Partners, L. P. · 601 U.S. 257 (2024)
• Basic Inc. v. Levinson · 485 U.S. 224 (1988)
• Herman & MacLean v. Huddleston · 459 U.S. 375 (1983)
• McNally v. United States · 483 U.S. 350 (1987)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Zandford · 535 U.S. 813 (2002)
• Lowe v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 472 U.S. 181 (1985)
• Ciminelli v. United States · 598 U.S. 306 (2023)
• SEC v. Jarkesy · 603 U.S. 109 (2024)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1980). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).