Samuel a. Lewis, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. v. Fletcher Casey, Jr., et al.

Decided June 24, 1996. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-1511 · 518 U.S. 343 (1996) · Cited 7,493 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 8–1.

“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.

• Bounds v. Smith · 430 U.S. 817 (1977)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Douglas v. California · 372 U.S. 353 (1963)
• Ex Parte Hull · 312 U.S. 546 (1941)
• Turner v. Safley · 482 U.S. 78 (1987)
• Johnson v. Avery · 393 U.S. 483 (1969)
• Ross v. Moffitt · 417 U.S. 600 (1974)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Missouri v. Jenkins · 515 U.S. 70 (1995)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Preiser v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 475 (1973)
• Pennsylvania v. Finley · 481 U.S. 551 (1987)
• Blum v. Yaretsky · 457 U.S. 991 (1982)
• Thornburgh v. Abbott · 490 U.S. 401 (1989)
• Murray v. Giarratano · 492 U.S. 1 (1989)
• United States v. MacCollom · 426 U.S. 317 (1976)
• Smith v. Bennett · 365 U.S. 708 (1961)
• Burns v. Ohio · 360 U.S. 252 (1959)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Sandin v. Conner · 515 U.S. 472 (1995)
• Hudson v. McMillian · 503 U.S. 1 (1992)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Helling v. McKinney · 509 U.S. 25 (1993)
• Cruz v. Beto · 405 U.S. 319 (1972)

Cited by

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

• Christopher v. Harbury · 536 U.S. 403 (2002)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Davis v. Federal Election Commission · 554 U.S. 724 (2008)
• Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo · 577 U.S. 442 (2016)
• Sprint Communications Co. v. APCC Services, Inc. · 554 U.S. 269 (2008)
• Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc. · 581 U.S. 433 (2017)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Brown v. Plata · 563 U.S. 493 (2011)
• Gill v. Whitford · 585 U.S. 48 (2018)
• Woodford v. Ngo · 548 U.S. 81 (2006)
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. · 528 U.S. 167 (2000)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Edwards v. Balisok · 520 U.S. 641 (1997)
• Rasul v. Bush · 542 U.S. 466 (2004)
• Shaw v. Murphy · 532 U.S. 223 (2001)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• Hohn v. United States · 524 U.S. 236 (1998)
• Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
• Trump v. CASA, Inc. · 606 U.S. 831 (2025)

Official text

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

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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).