Helstoski v. Meanor, United States District Judge, et al.

Decided June 18, 1979. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-546 · 442 U.S. 500 (1979) · Cited 426 times

Holding

Mandamus was not the appropriate means of challenging the validity of the indictment on the ground that it violated the Speech or Debate Clause.

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 7–1.

“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.

• Abney v. United States · 431 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Dombrowski v. Eastland · 387 U.S. 82 (1967)
• United States v. Brewster · 408 U.S. 501 (1972)
• Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
• Kerr v. United States Dist. Court for Northern Dist. of Cal. · 426 U.S. 394 (1976)
• United States v. Johnson · 383 U.S. 169 (1966)

Cited by

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

• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Sell v. United States · 539 U.S. 166 (2003)
• Midland Asphalt Corp. v. United States · 489 U.S. 794 (1989)
• Osborn v. Haley · 549 U.S. 225 (2007)
• Flanagan v. United States · 465 U.S. 259 (1984)
• United States v. Hollywood Motor Car Co. · 458 U.S. 263 (1982)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc. · 511 U.S. 863 (1994)
• Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller Ex Rel. Koller · 472 U.S. 424 (1985)
• Johnson v. Fankell · 520 U.S. 911 (1997)
• Lauro Lines S.R.L. v. Chasser · 490 U.S. 495 (1989)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1979). 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).