George Smith, Warden v. Lee Robbins

Decided January 19, 2000. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 98-1037 · 528 U.S. 259 (2000) · Cited 3,510 times

Holding

A defendant’s exercise of peremptory challenges pursuant to Rule 24 is not denied or impaired when the defendant chooses to use such a challenge to remove a juror who should have been excused for cause.

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.

• Penson v. Ohio · 488 U.S. 75 (1988)
• Anders v. California · 386 U.S. 738 (1967)
• McCoy v. Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District 1 · 486 U.S. 429 (1988)
• Strickland v. Washington · 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Douglas v. California · 372 U.S. 353 (1963)
• Ellis v. United States · 356 U.S. 674 (1958)
• United States v. Cronic · 466 U.S. 648 (1984)
• Pennsylvania v. Finley · 481 U.S. 551 (1987)
• Evitts v. Lucey · 469 U.S. 387 (1985)
• Ross v. Moffitt · 417 U.S. 600 (1974)
• Lane v. Brown · 372 U.S. 477 (1963)
• Eskridge v. Washington State Board of Prison Terms & Paroles · 357 U.S. 214 (1958)
• Murray v. Giarratano · 492 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
• Spencer v. Texas · 385 U.S. 554 (1967)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)
• Jones v. Barnes · 463 U.S. 745 (1983)
• Lindh v. Murphy · 521 U.S. 320 (1997)
• Rinaldi v. Yeager · 384 U.S. 305 (1966)
• Rodriquez v. United States · 395 U.S. 327 (1969)
• Faretta v. California · 422 U.S. 806 (1975)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Penry v. Lynaugh · 492 U.S. 302 (1989)
• Jurek v. Texas · 428 U.S. 262 (1976)
• Bearden v. Georgia · 461 U.S. 660 (1983)
• Smith v. Murray · 477 U.S. 527 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Davila v. Davis · 582 U.S. 521 (2017)
• Garza v. Idaho · 586 U.S. 232 (2019)
• Dickerson v. United States · 530 U.S. 428 (2000)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Johnson v. California · 545 U.S. 162 (2005)
• Schaffer Ex Rel. Schaffer v. Weast · 546 U.S. 49 (2005)
• Garner v. Jones · 529 U.S. 244 (2000)
• Vega v. Tekoh · 597 U.S. 134 (2022)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2000). 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).