Graham v. Connor et al.

Decided May 15, 1989. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-6571 · 490 U.S. 386 (1989) · Cited 16,485 times

Holding

All claims that law enforcement officials have used excessive force deadly or not in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other "seizure" of a free citizen are properly analyzed under the Fourth Amendment's "objective reasonableness" standard, rather than under a substantive due process standard.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Whitley v. Albers · 475 U.S. 312 (1986)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Scott v. United States · 436 U.S. 128 (1978)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Anderson v. Creighton · 483 U.S. 635 (1987)
• Baker v. McCollan · 443 U.S. 137 (1979)
• United States v. Robinson · 414 U.S. 218 (1973)
• United States v. Place · 462 U.S. 696 (1983)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Brower Ex Rel. Estate of Caldwell v. County of Inyo · 489 U.S. 593 (1989)
• Maryland v. Garrison · 480 U.S. 79 (1987)
• Hill v. California · 401 U.S. 797 (1971)

Cited by

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

• County of Los Angeles v. Mendez · 581 U.S. 420 (2017)
• Albright v. Oliver · 510 U.S. 266 (1994)
• Kingsley v. Hendrickson · 576 U.S. 389 (2015)
• Kisela v. Hughes · 584 U.S. 100 (2018)
• City and County of San Francisco v. Sheehan · 575 U.S. 600 (2015)
• Barnes v. Felix · 605 U.S. 73 (2025)
• Muehler v. Mena · 544 U.S. 93 (2005)
• County of Sacramento v. Lewis · 523 U.S. 833 (1998)
• Plumhoff v. Rickard · 572 U.S. 765 (2014)
• United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property · 510 U.S. 43 (1993)
• Scott v. Harris · 550 U.S. 372 (2007)
• Brosseau v. Haugen · 543 U.S. 194 (2004)
• White v. Pauly · 580 U.S. 73 (2017)
• Tolan v. Cotton · 572 U.S. 650 (2014)
• Los Angeles County, California v. Rettele · 550 U.S. 609 (2007)
• Koon v. United States · 518 U.S. 81 (1996)
• Soldal v. Cook County · 506 U.S. 56 (1992)
• Chavez v. Martinez · 538 U.S. 760 (2003)
• Mullenix v. Luna · 577 U.S. 7 (2015)
• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Lombardo v. St. Louis · 594 U.S. 464 (2021)
• Wilson v. Layne · 526 U.S. 603 (1999)
• United States v. Lanier · 520 U.S. 259 (1997)
• Wilson v. Seiter · 501 U.S. 294 (1991)
• Brigham City v. Stuart · 547 U.S. 398 (2006)
• Kentucky v. King · 563 U.S. 452 (2011)
• Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
• Conn v. Gabbert · 526 U.S. 286 (1999)
• United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez · 494 U.S. 259 (1990)
• United States v. Patane · 542 U.S. 630 (2004)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1989). 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).