District Attorney'S Office for the Third Judicial District, et al. v. William G. Osborne

Decided June 18, 2009. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-6 · 557 U.S. 52 (2009) · Cited 782 times

Holding

Assuming Osborne’s claims can be pursued using § 1983, he has no constitutional right to obtain postconviction access to the State’s evidence for DNA testing.

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.

• Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
• Medina v. California · 505 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
• Heck v. Humphrey · 512 U.S. 477 (1994)
• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Preiser v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 475 (1973)
• Wilkinson v. Dotson · 544 U.S. 74 (2005)
• Washington v. Glucksberg · 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
• Collins v. City of Harker Heights · 503 U.S. 115 (1992)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Evitts v. Lucey · 469 U.S. 387 (1985)
• Poe v. Ullman · 367 U.S. 497 (1961)
• Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes · 504 U.S. 1 (1992)
• Connecticut Board of Pardons v. Dumschat · 452 U.S. 458 (1981)
• In Re WINSHIP · 397 U.S. 358 (1970)
• Morrissey v. Brewer · 408 U.S. 471 (1972)
• Wainwright v. Sykes · 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
• Rose v. Lundy · 455 U.S. 509 (1982)
• Pennsylvania v. Finley · 481 U.S. 551 (1987)
• Meachum v. Fano · 427 U.S. 215 (1976)
• Sandstrom v. Montana · 442 U.S. 510 (1979)
• House v. Bell · 547 U.S. 518 (2006)
• Darr v. Burford · 339 U.S. 200 (1950)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Turner v. Safley · 482 U.S. 78 (1987)

Cited by

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

• Williams v. Pennsylvania · 579 U.S. 1 (2016)
• Gutierrez v. Saenz · 606 U.S. 305 (2025)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• Reed v. Goertz · 598 U.S. 230 (2023)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Williams v. Illinois · 567 U.S. 50 (2012)
• McDaniel v. Brown · 558 U.S. 120 (2010)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). 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).