Villarreal v. Texas
Decided February 25, 2026. Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 24-557
Holding
A trial court’s qualified conferral order that prohibits only discussion of the defendant’s testimony for its own sake during a midtestimony overnight recess permissibly balances the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel against the burden of offering unaltered trial testimony and does not violate the Constitution.
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 · 7
- John G. Roberts, Jr.
- Samuel A. Alito, Jr. · filed a concurring opinion
- Sonia Sotomayor
- Elena Kagan
- Brett M. Kavanaugh
- Amy Coney Barrett
- Ketanji Brown Jackson · delivered the opinion of the Court
Concurring · 2
- Clarence Thomas · filed an opinion concurring in the judgment
- Neil M. Gorsuch
“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).
Official text
Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)
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Ketanji Brown Jackson’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2026). Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).