Edward Jerome Harbison v. Ricky Bell, Warden
Decided April 1, 2009. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 07-8521 · 556 U.S. 180 (2009) · Cited 531 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 7–2.
Majority · 5
- John Paul Stevens · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- David Hackett Souter
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Stephen Gerald Breyer
Concurring · 2
- Clarence Thomas · filed a concurring opinion
- John Glover Roberts Jr. · filed a concurring opinion
Dissenting · 2
- Antonin Scalia · filed a dissenting opinion
- Samuel A. Alito Jr.
“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.
- Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
- McFarland v. Scott · 512 U.S. 849 (1994)
- Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
- Slack v. McDaniel · 529 U.S. 473 (2000)
- Rhines v. Weber · 544 U.S. 269 (2005)
- Wilkinson v. Dotson · 544 U.S. 74 (2005)
- Lamie v. United States Trustee · 540 U.S. 526 (2004)
- Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill · 437 U.S. 153 (1978)
- United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
- Pliler v. Ford · 542 U.S. 225 (2004)
- West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc. v. Casey · 499 U.S. 83 (1991)
- Dretke v. Haley · 541 U.S. 386 (2004)
- Pavelic & LeFlore v. Marvel Entertainment Group, Div. of Cadence Industries Corp. · 493 U.S. 120 (1989)
- Barron Ex Rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore · 32 U.S. 243 (1833)
- United States v. Morton · 467 U.S. 822 (1984)
- Kansas v. Marsh · 548 U.S. 163 (2006)
- Eldred v. Ashcroft · 537 U.S. 186 (2003)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Martel v. Clair · 565 U.S. 648 (2012)
- Ayestas v. Davis · 584 U.S. 28 (2018)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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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).