Ball v. United States

470 U.S. 856 · Decided March 26, 1985 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Ball v. United States was decided on March 26, 1985 unanimously (8–0). The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Statutory construction of criminal laws, firearms” in the Criminal Procedure area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: Lewis F. Powell Jr..

Full case caption

Ball v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1984-061, docket 1984-061-01.

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Cases on the same legal provision: Federal crime control and firearms statutes

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Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error