Tison v. Arizona

481 U.S. 137 · Decided April 21, 1987 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Tison v. Arizona was decided on April 21, 1987 by a vote of 5–4. The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Cruel and unusual punishment, 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

Tison v. Arizona

SCDB identifiers: case 1986-072, docket 1986-072-01.

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Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

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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