Ray a. Lewis v. United States
Decided June 24, 1996. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 95-6465 · 518 U.S. 322 (1996) · Cited 209 times
Holding
The success of respondents’ systemic challenge was dependent on their ability to show widespread actual injury, and the District Court’s failure to identify anything more than isolated instances of actual injury renders its finding of a systemic Bounds violation invalid.
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 7–2.
Majority · 5
- Sandra Day O'Connor · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Antonin Scalia
- Clarence Thomas
- David Hackett Souter
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
Concurring · 2
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy · filed a concurring opinion
- Stephen Gerald Breyer
Dissenting · 2
- John Paul Stevens · filed a dissenting opinion
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“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.
- Codispoti v. Pennsylvania · 418 U.S. 506 (1974)
- Taylor v. Hayes · 418 U.S. 488 (1974)
- Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas · 489 U.S. 538 (1989)
- Duncan v. Louisiana · 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
- Frank v. United States · 395 U.S. 147 (1969)
- District of Columbia v. Clawans · 300 U.S. 617 (1937)
- Ashe v. Swenson · 397 U.S. 436 (1970)
- Bloom v. Illinois · 391 U.S. 194 (1968)
- Ball v. United States · 470 U.S. 856 (1985)
- Scott v. Illinois · 440 U.S. 367 (1979)
- Baldwin v. New York · 399 U.S. 66 (1970)
- Mayberry v. Pennsylvania · 400 U.S. 455 (1971)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Voisine v. United States · 579 U.S. 686 (2016)
- United States v. Haymond · 588 U.S. 634 (2019)
- Portuondo v. Agard · 529 U.S. 61 (2000)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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Sandra Day O'Connor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). 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).