Illinois v. William aka Sam Wardlow

528 U.S. 119 · Decided January 12, 2000 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Illinois v. William aka Sam Wardlow was decided on January 12, 2000 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Search and seizure (general)” 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

Illinois v. William aka Sam Wardlow

SCDB identifiers: case 1999-017, docket 1999-017-01.

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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