Houston v. Lack, Warden
Decided June 24, 1988. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 87-5428 · 487 U.S. 266 (1988) · Cited 6,563 times
Holding
Under Rule 4(a)(1), pro se prisoners' notices of appeal are "filed" at the moment of delivery to prison authorities for forwarding to the district court.
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.
Majority · 5
- William Joseph Brennan Jr. · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Byron Raymond White
- Harry Andrew Blackmun
- John Paul Stevens
- Thurgood Marshall
Dissenting · 4
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Antonin Scalia · filed a dissenting opinion
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
“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.
- Fallen v. United States · 378 U.S. 139 (1964)
- Thompson v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 375 U.S. 384 (1964)
- United States v. Lombardo · 241 U.S. 73 (1916)
- Parissi v. Telechron, Inc. · 349 U.S. 46 (1955)
- Browder v. Director, Dept. of Corrections of Ill. · 434 U.S. 257 (1978)
- Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc. · 371 U.S. 215 (1962)
- Griggs v. Provident Consumer Discount Co. · 459 U.S. 56 (1982)
- United States v. Locke · 471 U.S. 84 (1985)
- Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp. · 485 U.S. 717 (1988)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Bowles v. Russell · 551 U.S. 205 (2007)
- McNeil v. United States · 508 U.S. 106 (1993)
- Dusenbery v. United States · 534 U.S. 161 (2002)
- Eberhart v. United States · 546 U.S. 12 (2005)
- Hohn v. United States · 524 U.S. 236 (1998)
- Johnson v. United States · 544 U.S. 295 (2005)
- Fex v. Michigan · 507 U.S. 43 (1993)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
Explore from here
William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).