Brown v. United States

359 U.S. 41 · Decided March 9, 1959 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Brown v. United States was decided on March 9, 1959 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice Potter Stewart wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Contempt of court or Congress” 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

Full case caption

Brown v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1958-056, docket 1958-056-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Contempt of court or Congress”

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• Green v. United States
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  362 U.S. 610Decided May 23, 19605–4Felix Frankfurter
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Cases on the same legal provision: Motor Carrier Act

• T. I. M. E. Incorporated v. United States
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• United States v. a & P Trucking Co.
  358 U.S. 121Decided December 8, 19589–0John M. Harlan II
• Andrew G. Nelson, Inc. v. United States
  355 U.S. 554Decided March 3, 19588–1Tom C. Clark
• American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. United States
  355 U.S. 141Decided December 9, 19578–1Tom C. Clark
• Hewitt-Robins Incorporated v. Eastern Freight-Ways, Inc.
  371 U.S. 84Decided November 19, 19626–3Tom C. Clark
• Castle v. Hayes Freight Lines, Inc.Law held unconstitutional
  348 U.S. 61Decided December 6, 19548–0Hugo L. Black

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Hawkins v. United States
  358 U.S. 74Decided November 24, 19589–0Hugo L. Black
• Ladner v. United StatesAltered precedent
  358 U.S. 169Decided December 15, 19588–1William J. Brennan Jr.
• United States ex Rel. Jennings v. Ragen
  358 U.S. 276Decided January 12, 19598–0Per curiam
• Draper v. United States
  358 U.S. 307Decided January 26, 19596–1Charles E. Whittaker
• Greene v. United States
  358 U.S. 326Decided January 26, 19599–0Per curiam
• Heflin v. United States
  358 U.S. 415Decided February 24, 19599–0William O. Douglas

See all

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