Keith J. Hudson v. Jack McMillian, et al.

Decided February 25, 1992. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-6531 · 503 U.S. 1 (1992) · Cited 8,199 times

Holding

The use of excessive physical force against a prisoner may constitute cruel and unusual punishment even though the inmate does not suffer serious injury.

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.

• Whitley v. Albers · 475 U.S. 312 (1986)
• Wilson v. Seiter · 501 U.S. 294 (1991)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Rhodes v. Chapman · 452 U.S. 337 (1981)
• John v. Johnson · 414 U.S. 1033 (1973)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Gregg v. Georgia · 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
• Parratt v. Taylor · 451 U.S. 527 (1981)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters · 459 U.S. 519 (1983)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores · 421 U.S. 723 (1975)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Trop v. Dulles · 356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• Patsy v. Board of Regents of Fla. · 457 U.S. 496 (1982)
• Davidson v. Cannon · 474 U.S. 344 (1986)
• Procunier v. Navarette · 434 U.S. 555 (1978)
• McCarthy v. Bronson · 500 U.S. 136 (1991)
• Wilkerson v. Utah · 99 U.S. 130 (1879)

Cited by

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

• Wilkins v. Gaddy · 559 U.S. 34 (2010)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Porter v. Nussle · 534 U.S. 516 (2002)
• Helling v. McKinney · 509 U.S. 25 (1993)
• Kingsley v. Hendrickson · 576 U.S. 389 (2015)
• Erickson v. Pardus · 551 U.S. 89 (2007)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Hope v. Pelzer · 536 U.S. 730 (2002)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Miller v. Alabama · 567 U.S. 460 (2012)
• Overton v. Bazzetta · 539 U.S. 126 (2003)
• Graham v. Collins · 506 U.S. 461 (1993)
• Wisconsin Department of Revenue v. William Wrigley, Jr., Co. · 505 U.S. 214 (1992)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).