Scales v. United States

Decided June 5, 1961. John Marshall Harlan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 1 · 367 U.S. 203 (1961) · Cited 526 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“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.

• Yates v. United States · 354 U.S. 298 (1957)
• Dennis v. United States · 341 U.S. 494 (1951)
• Counselman v. Hitchcock · 142 U.S. 547 (1892)
• Barenblatt v. United States · 360 U.S. 109 (1959)
• Konigsberg v. State Bar of Cal. · 366 U.S. 36 (1961)
• Jencks v. United States · 353 U.S. 657 (1957)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Cramer v. United States · 325 U.S. 1 (1945)
• Reina v. United States · 364 U.S. 507 (1960)
• Uphaus v. Wyman · 360 U.S. 72 (1959)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Lovell v. City of Griffin · 303 U.S. 444 (1938)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Schenck v. United States · 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• United States v. Petrillo · 332 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Boyce Motor Lines, Inc. v. United States · 342 U.S. 337 (1952)
• Palermo v. United States · 360 U.S. 343 (1959)
• Bridges v. Wixon · 326 U.S. 135 (1945)
• Galvan v. Press · 347 U.S. 522 (1954)
• Direct Sales Co. v. United States · 319 U.S. 703 (1943)
• Sproles v. Binford · 286 U.S. 374 (1932)
• United States v. Falcone · 311 U.S. 205 (1940)
• Blau v. United States · 340 U.S. 159 (1950)
• Blau v. United States · 340 U.S. 332 (1951)
• Cohen v. Hurley · 366 U.S. 117 (1961)

Cited by

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

• Aptheker v. Secretary of State · 378 U.S. 500 (1964)
• United States v. Robel · 389 U.S. 258 (1967)
• Killian v. United States · 368 U.S. 231 (1961)
• United States v. Abel · 469 U.S. 45 (1984)
• Elfbrandt v. Russell · 384 U.S. 11 (1966)
• Davis v. United States · 411 U.S. 233 (1973)
• Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board · 382 U.S. 70 (1965)
• Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Rucker · 535 U.S. 125 (2002)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Brandenburg v. Ohio · 395 U.S. 444 (1969)
• Healy v. James · 408 U.S. 169 (1972)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Claiborne Hardware Co. · 458 U.S. 886 (1982)
• National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius · 567 U.S. 519 (2012)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Welsh v. United States · 398 U.S. 333 (1970)
• Gravel v. United States · 408 U.S. 606 (1972)
• Greer v. Spock · 424 U.S. 828 (1976)
• Regan v. Time, Inc. · 468 U.S. 641 (1984)
• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee · 372 U.S. 539 (1963)
• Shotwell Manufacturing Co. v. United States · 371 U.S. 341 (1963)
• United States v. International Minerals & Chemical Corp. · 402 U.S. 558 (1971)
• City of El Paso v. Simmons · 379 U.S. 497 (1965)
• Baird v. State Bar of Arizona · 401 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Law Students Civil Rights Research Council, Inc. v. Wadmond · 401 U.S. 154 (1971)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).