United States v. Hale
Decided June 23, 1975. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 74-364 · 422 U.S. 171 (1975) · Cited 969 times
Holding
Respondent's silence during police interrogation lacked significant probative value and under these circumstances any reference to his silence carried with it an intolerably prejudicial impact.
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 9–0.
Majority · 5
- Thurgood Marshall · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.
- Potter Stewart
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
- William Joseph Brennan Jr.
Concurring · 4
- Byron Raymond White · filed a concurring opinion
- Harry Andrew Blackmun
- Warren Earl Burger · filed a concurring opinion
- William Orville Douglas · filed a concurring opinion
“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.
- Grunewald v. United States · 353 U.S. 391 (1957)
- Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
- Raffel v. United States · 271 U.S. 494 (1926)
- Johnson v. United States · 318 U.S. 189 (1943)
- Griffin v. California · 380 U.S. 609 (1965)
- Harris v. New York · 401 U.S. 222 (1971)
- Shepard v. United States · 290 U.S. 96 (1933)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Doyle v. Ohio · 426 U.S. 610 (1976)
- Baxter v. Palmigiano · 425 U.S. 308 (1976)
- Jenkins v. Anderson · 447 U.S. 231 (1980)
- Greer v. Miller · 483 U.S. 756 (1987)
- Wainwright v. Greenfield · 474 U.S. 284 (1986)
- Fletcher v. Weir · 455 U.S. 603 (1982)
- Lowenfield v. Phelps · 484 U.S. 231 (1988)
- South Dakota v. Neville · 459 U.S. 553 (1983)
- Mitchell v. United States · 526 U.S. 314 (1999)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1975). 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).