Lewis v. United States

Decided February 27, 1980. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-1595 · 445 U.S. 55 (1980) · Cited 843 times

Holding

Even though petitioner's extant prior state-court felony conviction may be subject to collateral attack under Gideon v.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Loper v. Beto · 405 U.S. 473 (1972)
• Burgett v. Texas · 389 U.S. 109 (1967)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• United States v. Bass · 404 U.S. 336 (1971)
• United States v. Batchelder · 442 U.S. 114 (1979)
• Linkletter v. Walker · 381 U.S. 618 (1965)
• United States v. Tucker · 404 U.S. 443 (1972)
• Rewis v. United States · 401 U.S. 808 (1971)
• Simpson v. United States · 435 U.S. 6 (1978)
• Scarborough v. United States · 431 U.S. 563 (1977)
• Marshall v. United States · 414 U.S. 417 (1974)
• Kitchens v. Smith · 401 U.S. 847 (1971)
• Johnson v. Zerbst · 304 U.S. 458 (1938)
• Universal Camera Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 340 U.S. 474 (1951)
• Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington · 442 U.S. 560 (1979)
• Crowell v. Benson · 285 U.S. 22 (1932)
• Vance v. Bradley · 440 U.S. 93 (1979)
• United States v. Morgan · 346 U.S. 502 (1954)
• Southeastern Community College v. Davis · 442 U.S. 397 (1979)
• Bell v. United States · 349 U.S. 81 (1955)
• Reiter v. Sonotone Corp. · 442 U.S. 330 (1979)
• Scott v. Illinois · 440 U.S. 367 (1979)
• Baxstrom v. Herold · 383 U.S. 107 (1966)
• United States v. Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp. · 344 U.S. 218 (1952)
• Dalia v. United States · 441 U.S. 238 (1979)
• Ladner v. United States · 358 U.S. 169 (1958)
• Walker v. City of Birmingham · 388 U.S. 307 (1967)
• McGinnis v. Royster · 410 U.S. 263 (1973)
• United States v. Miller · 307 U.S. 174 (1939)
• Swain v. Pressley · 430 U.S. 372 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Custis v. United States · 511 U.S. 485 (1994)
• United States v. Mendoza-Lopez · 481 U.S. 828 (1987)
• Dickerson v. New Banner Institute, Inc. · 460 U.S. 103 (1983)
• Hewitt v. United States · 606 U.S. 419 (2025)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Baldasar v. Illinois · 446 U.S. 222 (1980)
• Ball v. United States · 470 U.S. 856 (1985)
• Garcia v. United States · 469 U.S. 70 (1984)
• Small v. United States · 544 U.S. 385 (2005)
• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• United States v. Turkette · 452 U.S. 576 (1981)
• Parke v. Raley · 506 U.S. 20 (1992)
• Moskal v. United States · 498 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Bifulco v. United States · 447 U.S. 381 (1980)
• Gozlon-Peretz v. United States · 498 U.S. 395 (1991)
• Johnson v. United States · 544 U.S. 295 (2005)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Phinpathya · 464 U.S. 183 (1984)
• American Bank & Trust Co. v. Dallas County · 463 U.S. 855 (1983)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1980). 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).