Johnson v. Mississippi

Decided June 13, 1988. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-5468 · 486 U.S. 578 (1988) · Cited 792 times

Holding

By allowing petitioner's death sentence to stand despite the fact that it was based in part on the vacated New York conviction, the Mississippi Supreme Court violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

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.

• Zant v. Stephens · 462 U.S. 862 (1983)
• Gardner v. Florida · 430 U.S. 349 (1977)
• Henry v. Mississippi · 379 U.S. 443 (1965)
• Gregg v. Georgia · 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
• Woodson v. North Carolina · 428 U.S. 280 (1976)
• United States v. Tucker · 404 U.S. 443 (1972)
• Townsend v. Burke · 334 U.S. 736 (1948)
• Cabana v. Bullock · 474 U.S. 376 (1986)
• Hathorn v. Lovorn · 457 U.S. 255 (1982)
• Barr v. City of Columbia · 378 U.S. 146 (1964)

Cited by

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

• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Romano v. Oklahoma · 512 U.S. 1 (1994)
• Dugger v. Adams · 489 U.S. 401 (1989)
• Harris v. Reed · 489 U.S. 255 (1989)
• Nelson v. Colorado · 581 U.S. 128 (2017)
• Clemons v. Mississippi · 494 U.S. 738 (1990)
• Howlett Ex Rel. Howlett v. Rose · 496 U.S. 356 (1990)
• Franklin v. Lynaugh · 487 U.S. 164 (1988)
• Murray v. Giarratano · 492 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Brown v. Sanders · 546 U.S. 212 (2006)
• Stewart v. Smith · 536 U.S. 856 (2002)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’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).