Edmund G. Brown, Jr. v. Marciano Plata

563 U.S. 493 · Decided May 23, 2011 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Edmund G. Brown, Jr. v. Marciano Plata was decided on May 23, 2011 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, non-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

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Governor of California, et Al., Appellants v. Marciano Plata et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 2010-046, docket 2010-046-01.

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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