McCoy v. Louisiana

Decided May 14, 2018. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 16-8255 · 584 U.S. 414 (2018) · Cited 738 times

Holding

The Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant the right to choose the objective of his defense and to insist that his counsel refrain from admitting guilt, even when counsel’s experienced-based view is that confessing guilt offers the defendant the best chance to avoid the death penalty.

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. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

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.

• Florida v. Nixon · 543 U.S. 175 (2004)
• Faretta v. California · 422 U.S. 806 (1975)
• United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez · 548 U.S. 140 (2006)
• Strickland v. Washington · 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• McKaskle v. Wiggins · 465 U.S. 168 (1984)
• Nix v. Whiteside · 475 U.S. 157 (1986)
• Gonzalez v. United States · 553 U.S. 242 (2008)
• Waller v. Georgia · 467 U.S. 39 (1984)
• Jones v. Barnes · 463 U.S. 745 (1983)
• United States v. Cronic · 466 U.S. 648 (1984)
• Arizona v. Fulminante · 499 U.S. 279 (1991)
• Sandstrom v. Montana · 442 U.S. 510 (1979)
• Sullivan v. Louisiana · 508 U.S. 275 (1993)
• Illinois v. Allen · 397 U.S. 337 (1970)
• Dusky v. United States · 362 U.S. 402 (1960)
• Harris v. New York · 401 U.S. 222 (1971)
• Rose v. Clark · 478 U.S. 570 (1986)
• Godinez v. Moran · 509 U.S. 389 (1993)
• Cutter v. Wilkinson · 544 U.S. 709 (2005)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Gannett Co. v. DePasquale · 443 U.S. 368 (1979)
• Brookhart v. Janis · 384 U.S. 1 (1966)
• Yee v. City of Escondido · 503 U.S. 519 (1992)
• Taylor v. Freeland & Kronz · 503 U.S. 638 (1992)
• Yates v. Evatt · 500 U.S. 391 (1991)
• Martinez v. Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District · 528 U.S. 152 (2000)
• Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis · 515 U.S. 347 (1995)
• New York v. Hill · 528 U.S. 110 (2000)

Cited by

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

• Garza v. Idaho · 586 U.S. 232 (2019)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2018). 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).