Jose Francisco Sosa v. Humberto Alvarez-Machain

542 U.S. 692 · Decided June 29, 2004 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Jose Francisco Sosa v. Humberto Alvarez-Machain was decided on June 29, 2004 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice David H. Souter wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Liability, miscellaneous” in the Economic Activity 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

Jose Francisco Sosa v. Humberto Alvarez-Machain et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 2003-091, docket 2003-091-01.

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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