Indiana v. Edwards

Decided June 19, 2008. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-208 · 554 U.S. 164 (2008) · Cited 1,118 times

Holding

The Constitution does not prohibit States from insisting upon representation by counsel for those competent enough to stand trial but who suffer from severe mental illness to the point where they are not competent to conduct trial proceedings by themselves.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Faretta v. California · 422 U.S. 806 (1975)
• Godinez v. Moran · 509 U.S. 389 (1993)
• McKaskle v. Wiggins · 465 U.S. 168 (1984)
• Dusky v. United States · 362 U.S. 402 (1960)
• Martinez v. Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District · 528 U.S. 152 (2000)
• Illinois v. Allen · 397 U.S. 337 (1970)
• Drope v. Missouri · 420 U.S. 162 (1975)
• Adams v. United States Ex Rel. McCann · 317 U.S. 269 (1943)
• Massey v. Moore · 348 U.S. 105 (1954)
• Taylor v. Illinois · 484 U.S. 400 (1988)
• United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez · 548 U.S. 140 (2006)
• Crawford v. Washington · 541 U.S. 36 (2004)
• Maryland v. Craig · 497 U.S. 836 (1990)
• Wheat v. United States · 486 U.S. 153 (1988)
• Sell v. United States · 539 U.S. 166 (2003)
• Florida v. Nixon · 543 U.S. 175 (2004)

Cited by

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

• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Williams v. Illinois · 567 U.S. 50 (2012)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2008). 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).