Watkins v. Sowders, Warden

Decided January 13, 1981. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-5949 · 449 U.S. 341 (1981) · Cited 334 times

Holding

A state criminal court is not required by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to conduct a hearing out of the jury's presence whenever a defendant contends that a witness' identification of him was arrived at improperly.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Jackson v. Denno · 378 U.S. 368 (1964)
• United States v. Wade · 388 U.S. 218 (1967)
• Manson v. Brathwaite · 432 U.S. 98 (1977)
• Stovall v. Denno · 388 U.S. 293 (1967)
• Simmons v. United States · 390 U.S. 377 (1968)
• Rhode Island v. Innis · 446 U.S. 291 (1980)
• Gilbert v. California · 388 U.S. 263 (1967)
• Brewer v. Williams · 430 U.S. 387 (1977)
• Trop v. Dulles · 356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• North Carolina v. Butler · 441 U.S. 369 (1979)
• Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections · 383 U.S. 663 (1966)
• Blackburn v. Alabama · 361 U.S. 199 (1960)
• Foster v. California · 394 U.S. 440 (1969)
• United States v. Washington · 431 U.S. 181 (1977)
• Pinto v. Pierce · 389 U.S. 31 (1967)

Cited by

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

• Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon · 548 U.S. 331 (2006)
• Smith v. Arizona · 602 U.S. 779 (2024)
• Barefoot v. Estelle · 463 U.S. 880 (1983)
• Arizona v. Youngblood · 488 U.S. 51 (1988)
• Richardson v. Marsh · 481 U.S. 200 (1987)
• Wright v. West · 505 U.S. 277 (1992)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1981). 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).