McCoy v. Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District 1

Decided June 6, 1988. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-5002 · 486 U.S. 429 (1988) · Cited 1,718 times

Holding

The discussion requirement as construed by the State Supreme Court to require a brief statement of why particular cases, statutes, or facts in the record lead the attorney to believe that the appeal lacks merit is constitutional under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

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 5–3.

“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.

• Anders v. California · 386 U.S. 738 (1967)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Douglas v. California · 372 U.S. 353 (1963)
• Evitts v. Lucey · 469 U.S. 387 (1985)
• Ellis v. United States · 356 U.S. 674 (1958)
• Strickland v. Washington · 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• United States v. Cronic · 466 U.S. 648 (1984)
• Herring v. New York · 422 U.S. 853 (1975)
• Lane v. Brown · 372 U.S. 477 (1963)
• Ferri v. Ackerman · 444 U.S. 193 (1979)
• Jones v. Barnes · 463 U.S. 745 (1983)
• Cuyler v. Sullivan · 446 U.S. 335 (1980)
• Powell v. Alabama · 287 U.S. 45 (1932)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Kimmelman v. Morrison · 477 U.S. 365 (1986)
• Von Moltke v. Gillies · 332 U.S. 708 (1948)
• Entsminger v. Iowa · 386 U.S. 748 (1967)

Cited by

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

• Smith v. Robbins · 528 U.S. 259 (2000)
• Penson v. Ohio · 488 U.S. 75 (1988)

Official text

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

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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).