McKoy v. North Carolina

Decided March 5, 1990. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-5909 · 494 U.S. 433 (1990) · Cited 1,045 times

Holding

North Carolina's unanimity requirement impermissibly limits jurors' consideration of mitigating evidence and hence is contrary to this Court's decision in Mills, supra.

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.

• Mills v. Maryland · 486 U.S. 367 (1988)
• Lockett v. Ohio · 438 U.S. 586 (1978)
• Eddings v. Oklahoma · 455 U.S. 104 (1982)
• Penry v. Lynaugh · 492 U.S. 302 (1989)
• Patterson v. New York · 432 U.S. 197 (1977)
• Skipper v. South Carolina · 476 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Hitchcock v. Dugger · 481 U.S. 393 (1987)
• Gregg v. Georgia · 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Ballew v. Georgia · 435 U.S. 223 (1978)
• Woodson v. North Carolina · 428 U.S. 280 (1976)
• Zant v. Stephens · 462 U.S. 862 (1983)
• McCleskey v. Kemp · 481 U.S. 279 (1987)
• Franklin v. Lynaugh · 487 U.S. 164 (1988)
• Furman v. Georgia · 408 U.S. 238 (1972)
• Mullaney v. Wilbur · 421 U.S. 684 (1975)
• United States v. W. T. Grant Co. · 345 U.S. 629 (1953)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Proffitt v. Florida · 428 U.S. 242 (1976)
• Williams v. Florida · 399 U.S. 78 (1970)
• Godfrey v. Georgia · 446 U.S. 420 (1980)
• California v. Brown · 479 U.S. 538 (1987)
• Leland v. Oregon · 343 U.S. 790 (1952)
• Apodaca v. Oregon · 406 U.S. 404 (1972)
• Hicks v. Oklahoma · 447 U.S. 343 (1980)
• Martin v. Ohio · 480 U.S. 228 (1987)
• Burch v. Louisiana · 441 U.S. 130 (1979)
• Rivera v. Delaware · 429 U.S. 877 (1976)

Cited by

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

• Beard v. Banks · 542 U.S. 406 (2004)
• Tennard v. Dretke, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division · 542 U.S. 274 (2004)
• Walton v. Arizona · 497 U.S. 639 (1990)
• Johnson v. Texas · 509 U.S. 350 (1993)
• Ramos v. Louisiana · 590 U.S. 83 (2020)
• United States v. Tsarnaev · 595 U.S. 302 (2022)
• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Sawyer v. Whitley · 505 U.S. 333 (1992)
• Morgan v. Illinois · 504 U.S. 719 (1992)
• Schad v. Arizona · 501 U.S. 624 (1991)
• Richardson v. United States · 526 U.S. 813 (1999)
• Sawyer v. Smith · 497 U.S. 227 (1990)
• United States v. Rahimi · 602 U.S. 680 (2024)
• Smith v. Texas · 543 U.S. 37 (2004)
• Smith v. Spisak · 558 U.S. 139 (2010)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).