Stone, Warden v. Powell

Decided July 6, 1976. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-1055 · 428 U.S. 465 (1976) · Cited 4,303 times

Holding

Where the State, as in each of these cases, has provided an opportunity for full and fair litigation of a Fourth Amendment claim, a state prisoner may not be granted federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that evidence obtained through an unconstitutional search and seizure was introduced at his trial.

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.

• Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
• Kaufman v. United States · 394 U.S. 217 (1969)
• Brown v. Allen · 344 U.S. 443 (1953)
• Fay v. Noia · 372 U.S. 391 (1963)
• United States v. Calandra · 414 U.S. 338 (1974)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Townsend v. Sain · 372 U.S. 293 (1963)
• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• Whiteley v. Warden, Wyoming State Penitentiary · 401 U.S. 560 (1971)
• Schneckloth v. Bustamonte · 412 U.S. 218 (1973)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• Wolf v. Colorado · 338 U.S. 25 (1949)
• Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
• Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville · 405 U.S. 156 (1972)
• United States v. Peltier · 422 U.S. 531 (1975)
• Francis v. Henderson · 425 U.S. 536 (1976)
• Lefkowitz v. Newsome · 420 U.S. 283 (1975)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Wong Sun v. United States · 371 U.S. 471 (1963)
• Aguilar v. Texas · 378 U.S. 108 (1964)
• Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · 387 U.S. 294 (1967)
• Linkletter v. Walker · 381 U.S. 618 (1965)
• Alderman v. United States · 394 U.S. 165 (1969)
• Cady v. Dombrowski · 413 U.S. 433 (1973)
• Carafas v. LaVallee · 391 U.S. 234 (1968)
• Desist v. United States · 394 U.S. 244 (1969)
• Mancusi v. DeForte · 392 U.S. 364 (1968)
• Chapman v. California · 386 U.S. 18 (1967)

Cited by

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

• Duckworth v. Eagan · 492 U.S. 195 (1989)
• Withrow v. Williams · 507 U.S. 680 (1993)
• Rose v. Mitchell · 443 U.S. 545 (1979)
• United States v. Leon · 468 U.S. 897 (1984)
• Kuhlmann v. Wilson · 477 U.S. 436 (1986)
• Kimmelman v. Morrison · 477 U.S. 365 (1986)
• Mincey v. Arizona · 437 U.S. 385 (1978)
• Brewer v. Williams · 430 U.S. 387 (1977)
• Reed v. Farley · 512 U.S. 339 (1994)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Allen v. McCurry · 449 U.S. 90 (1980)
• Wainwright v. Sykes · 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Castaneda v. Partida · 430 U.S. 482 (1977)
• Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole v. Scott · 524 U.S. 357 (1998)
• Rakas v. Illinois · 439 U.S. 128 (1978)
• Illinois v. Krull · 480 U.S. 340 (1987)
• Arizona v. Evans · 514 U.S. 1 (1995)
• United States v. Payner · 447 U.S. 727 (1980)
• Jackson v. Virginia · 443 U.S. 307 (1979)
• Vasquez v. Hillery · 474 U.S. 254 (1986)
• Brown v. Davenport · 596 U.S. 118 (2022)
• Danforth v. Minnesota · 552 U.S. 264 (2008)
• McQuiggin v. Perkins · 569 U.S. 383 (2013)
• Engle v. Isaac · 456 U.S. 107 (1982)
• Nix v. Williams · 467 U.S. 431 (1984)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Burt v. Titlow · 571 U.S. 12 (2013)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (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 (1976). 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).