Moore v. Texas
137 S. Ct. 1039 · Decided March 28, 2017 · Supreme Court of the United States
At a glance
Moore v. Texas was decided on March 28, 2017 by a vote of 5–3. The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty” in the Criminal Procedure area. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.
Read the opinion
- CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
- Supreme Court of the United States — slip opinions, October Term 2016
Case details
- Citations
- 137 S. Ct. 1039 · 197 L. Ed. 2d 416 · 2017 U.S. LEXIS 2185
- Docket number
- 15-797
- Decided
- March 28, 2017
- Argued
- November 29, 2016
- Court era
- Roberts Court
- Decision type
- Opinion of the Court (orally argued)
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome for petitioner
- The petitioning party received a favorable disposition
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority opinion
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Opinion assigned by
- Anthony M. Kennedy
- How the case arrived
- Certiorari
- Issue (SCDB)
- Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Legal provision
- Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment)
- Type of law
- Constitutional amendment
- Held unconstitutional
- A state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision
- Decision direction (SCDB)
- Liberal what this means
How the Justices voted
| Justice | Vote | Separate writing |
|---|---|---|
| Justice Anthony M. Kennedy | Majority | |
| Justice Clarence Thomas | Dissent | |
| Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Majority | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Stephen G. Breyer | Majority | |
| Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. | Dissent | Wrote an opinion |
| Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. | Dissent | |
| Justice Sonia Sotomayor | Majority | |
| Justice Elena Kagan | Majority |
Full case caption
Moore v. Texas
SCDB identifiers: case 2016-027, docket 2016-027-01.
Related decisions
Other cases on “Cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty”
- Shawn Patrick Lynch v. Arizona
- Kansas v. Carr
- Randy White v. Roger L. Wheeler
- Glossip v. Gross
- Moore v. Texas
- Madison v. Alabama
Cases on the same legal provision: Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment)
- Montgomery v. Louisiana
- Taylor v. Riojas
- Jones v. Mississippi
- Margaret Minneci v. Richard Lee Pollard
- Edmund G. Brown, Jr. v. Marciano Plata
- Terrance Jamar Graham v. FloridaLaw held unconstitutional
Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)
- Bosse v. Oklahoma
- Bravo-Fernandez v. United States
- Salman v. United States
- Shaw v. United States
- White v. Pauly
- Buck v. Davis
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