United States v. Christopher Lee Armstrong et al.

Decided May 13, 1996. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-157 · 517 U.S. 456 (1996) · Cited 1,801 times

Holding

For a defendant to be entitled to discovery on a claim that he was singled out for prosecution on the basis of his race, he must make a threshold showing that the Government declined to prosecute similarly situated suspects of other races.

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.

• Ah Sin v. Wittman · 198 U.S. 500 (1905)
• Batson v. Kentucky · 476 U.S. 79 (1986)
• Hunter v. Underwood · 471 U.S. 222 (1985)
• United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc. · 272 U.S. 1 (1926)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Oyler v. Boles · 368 U.S. 448 (1962)
• Wayte v. United States · 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
• Wade v. United States · 504 U.S. 181 (1992)
• Brady v. Maryland · 373 U.S. 83 (1963)
• Hickman v. Taylor · 329 U.S. 495 (1947)
• Bordenkircher v. Hayes · 434 U.S. 357 (1978)
• Heckler v. Chaney · 470 U.S. 821 (1985)
• Bolling v. Sharpe · 347 U.S. 497 (1954)
• McCleskey v. Kemp · 481 U.S. 279 (1987)
• United States v. Nobles · 422 U.S. 225 (1975)
• United States v. Goodwin · 457 U.S. 368 (1982)
• United States v. Batchelder · 442 U.S. 114 (1979)
• United States v. Mezzanatto · 513 U.S. 196 (1995)

Cited by

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

• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee · 525 U.S. 471 (1999)
• Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado · 580 U.S. 206 (2017)
• Hartman v. Moore · 547 U.S. 250 (2006)
• Bracy v. Gramley · 520 U.S. 899 (1997)
• United States v. Texas · 599 U.S. 670 (2023)
• National Archives & Records Administration v. Favish · 541 U.S. 157 (2004)
• Brown v. Plata · 563 U.S. 493 (2011)
• United States v. LaBonte · 520 U.S. 751 (1997)
• Gonzalez v. Trevino · 602 U.S. 653 (2024)
• City of Grants Pass v. Johnson · 603 U.S. 520 (2024)

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).