Scott v. Illinois

Decided March 5, 1979. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-1177 · 440 U.S. 367 (1979) · Cited 1,061 times

Holding

The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments require that no indigent criminal defendant be sentenced to a term of imprisonment unless the State has afforded him the right to assistance of appointed counsel in his defense, but do not require a state trial court to appoint counsel for a criminal defendant, such as petitioner, who is charged with a statutory offense for which imprisonment upon conviction is authorized but not imposed.

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 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.

• Gideon v. Wainwright · 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
• Powell v. Alabama · 287 U.S. 45 (1932)
• Baldwin v. New York · 399 U.S. 66 (1970)
• Duncan v. Louisiana · 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
• Betts v. Brady · 316 U.S. 455 (1942)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Johnson v. Zerbst · 304 U.S. 458 (1938)
• Bounds v. Smith · 430 U.S. 817 (1977)
• Pointer v. Texas · 380 U.S. 400 (1965)
• Washington v. Texas · 388 U.S. 14 (1967)
• In Re Oliver · 333 U.S. 257 (1948)
• Klopfer v. North Carolina · 386 U.S. 213 (1967)
• Mayer v. City of Chicago · 404 U.S. 189 (1971)
• Lakeside v. Oregon · 435 U.S. 333 (1978)
• Frank v. United States · 395 U.S. 147 (1969)
• Groppi v. Wisconsin · 400 U.S. 505 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Nichols v. United States · 511 U.S. 738 (1994)
• Baldasar v. Illinois · 446 U.S. 222 (1980)
• Alabama v. Shelton · 535 U.S. 654 (2002)
• Lassiter v. Department of Social Servs. of Durham Cty. · 452 U.S. 18 (1981)
• Iowa v. Tovar · 541 U.S. 77 (2004)
• Berkemer v. McCarty · 468 U.S. 420 (1984)
• Glover v. United States · 531 U.S. 198 (2001)
• Lewis v. United States · 445 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Southern Union Co. v. United States · 567 U.S. 343 (2012)
• Burch v. Louisiana · 441 U.S. 130 (1979)
• Lewis v. United States · 518 U.S. 322 (1996)

Official text

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

Explore from here

William Hubbs Rehnquist’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1979). 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).