Lefkowitz, Attorney General of New York v. Cunningham et al.

Decided June 13, 1977. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-260 · 431 U.S. 801 (1977) · Cited 598 times

Holding

The statute violated appellee's right to be free of compelled self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment.

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.

• Gardner v. Broderick · 392 U.S. 273 (1968)
• Lefkowitz v. Turley · 414 U.S. 70 (1973)
• Garrity v. New Jersey · 385 U.S. 493 (1967)
• Uniformed Sanitation Men Ass'n v. Commissioner of Sanitation of New York · 392 U.S. 280 (1968)
• Kastigar v. United States · 406 U.S. 441 (1972)
• Baxter v. Palmigiano · 425 U.S. 308 (1976)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Nixon v. Condon · 286 U.S. 73 (1932)
• Simmons v. United States · 390 U.S. 377 (1968)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• Malloy v. Hogan · 378 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell · 330 U.S. 75 (1947)
• Orloff v. Willoughby · 345 U.S. 83 (1953)
• Myers v. United States · 272 U.S. 52 (1926)
• Kusper v. Pontikes · 414 U.S. 51 (1973)
• Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong · 426 U.S. 88 (1976)
• Sugarman v. Dougall · 413 U.S. 634 (1973)

Cited by

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

• McKune v. Lile · 536 U.S. 24 (2002)
• Salinas v. Texas · 570 U.S. 178 (2013)
• Chavez v. Martinez · 538 U.S. 760 (2003)
• Minnesota v. Murphy · 465 U.S. 420 (1984)
• Jenkins v. Anderson · 447 U.S. 231 (1980)
• Mitchell v. United States · 526 U.S. 314 (1999)
• Selective Service System v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group · 468 U.S. 841 (1984)

Official text

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

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

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1977). 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).