Weaver v. Graham, Governor of Florida

Decided February 24, 1981. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-5780 · 450 U.S. 24 (1981) · Cited 2,482 times

Holding

A Florida statute repealing an earlier statute and reducing the amount of "gain time" for good conduct and obedience to prison rules deducted from a convicted prisoner's sentence is unconstitutional as an ex post facto law as applied to petitioner, whose crime was committed before the statute's enactment.

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.

“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.

• Lindsey v. Washington · 301 U.S. 397 (1937)
• Dobbert v. Florida · 432 U.S. 282 (1977)
• Calder v. Bull · 3 U.S. 386 (1798)
• Medley · 134 U.S. 160 (1890)
• Malloy v. South Carolina · 237 U.S. 180 (1915)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Kring v. Missouri · 107 U.S. 221 (1883)
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz · 449 U.S. 166 (1980)
• Hopt v. People of Territory of Utah · 110 U.S. 574 (1884)
• Thompson v. Utah · 170 U.S. 343 (1898)
• Dodge v. Board of Ed. of Chicago · 302 U.S. 74 (1937)

Cited by

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

• California Department of Corrections v. Morales · 514 U.S. 499 (1995)
• Lynce v. Mathis · 519 U.S. 433 (1997)
• Peugh v. United States · 569 U.S. 530 (2013)
• Miller v. Florida · 482 U.S. 423 (1987)
• Carmell v. Texas · 529 U.S. 513 (2000)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Garner v. Jones · 529 U.S. 244 (2000)
• Stogner v. California · 539 U.S. 607 (2003)
• Kansas v. Hendricks · 521 U.S. 346 (1997)
• Barber v. Thomas · 560 U.S. 474 (2010)
• Smith v. Doe · 538 U.S. 84 (2003)
• Nelson v. Campbell · 541 U.S. 637 (2004)

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).