Mallard v. United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa

490 U.S. 296 · Decided May 1, 1989 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Mallard v. United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa was decided on May 1, 1989 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Indigents, appointment of counsel” in the Civil Rights 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

Mallard v. United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1988-080, docket 1988-080-01.

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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