Cruz v. Beto, Corrections Director

Decided March 20, 1972. The Court ruled per curiam — an unsigned opinion of the Court.

Docket 71-5552 · 405 U.S. 319 (1972) · Cited 2,756 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–1.

“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.

• Conley v. Gibson · 355 U.S. 41 (1957)
• Cooper v. Pate · 378 U.S. 546 (1964)
• Johnson v. Avery · 393 U.S. 483 (1969)
• Lee v. Washington · 390 U.S. 333 (1968)
• Younger v. Gilmore · 404 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Haines v. Kerner · 404 U.S. 519 (1972)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Price v. Johnston · 334 U.S. 266 (1948)
• F. S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia · 253 U.S. 412 (1920)
• Korematsu v. United States · 323 U.S. 214 (1945)
• Carrington v. Rash · 380 U.S. 89 (1965)
• Levy v. Louisiana Ex Rel. Charity Hospital · 391 U.S. 68 (1968)
• Ex Parte Hull · 312 U.S. 546 (1941)
• Torcaso v. Watkins · 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
• Houghton v. Shafer · 392 U.S. 639 (1968)

Cited by

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

• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Rhodes v. Chapman · 452 U.S. 337 (1981)
• Pell v. Procunier · 417 U.S. 817 (1974)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz · 482 U.S. 342 (1987)
• Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Inc. · 433 U.S. 119 (1977)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Neitzke v. Williams · 490 U.S. 319 (1989)
• Papasan v. Allain · 478 U.S. 265 (1986)
• Preiser v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 475 (1973)
• Bounds v. Smith · 430 U.S. 817 (1977)
• Meachum v. Fano · 427 U.S. 215 (1976)
• Hughes v. Rowe · 449 U.S. 5 (1980)
• Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex · 442 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Olim v. Wakinekona · 461 U.S. 238 (1983)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• District Attorney's Office for the Third Judicial District v. Osborne · 557 U.S. 52 (2009)
• Kugler v. Helfant · 421 U.S. 117 (1975)
• Connecticut Board of Pardons v. Dumschat · 452 U.S. 458 (1981)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Brown v. Plata · 563 U.S. 493 (2011)
• Hoover v. Ronwin · 466 U.S. 558 (1984)

Official text

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

Explore from here

All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).