Douglas McArthur Buchanan, Jr. v. Ronald J. Angelone

522 U.S. 269 · Decided January 21, 1998 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Douglas McArthur Buchanan, Jr. v. Ronald J. Angelone was decided on January 21, 1998 by a vote of 6–3. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty” 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

Douglas McArthur Buchanan, Jr. v. Ronald J. Angelone, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections, et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1997-018, docket 1997-018-01.

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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