Daryl Renard Atkins v. Virginia

536 U.S. 304 · Decided June 20, 2002 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Daryl Renard Atkins v. Virginia was decided on June 20, 2002 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty” in the Criminal Procedure area. SCDB codes this decision as formally altering one or more of the Court's own precedents. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.

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

Daryl Renard Atkins v. Virginia

SCDB identifiers: case 2001-070, docket 2001-070-01.

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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