United States v. Leonard Cotton

535 U.S. 625 · Decided May 20, 2002 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

United States v. Leonard Cotton was decided on May 20, 2002 unanimously (9–0). 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 “Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure” in the Criminal Procedure area. SCDB codes this decision as formally altering one or more of the Court's own precedents.

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

United States v. Leonard Cotton, Marquette Hall, Lamont Thomas, Matilda Hall, Jovan Powell, Jesus Hall, and Stanley Hall, Jr.

SCDB identifiers: case 2001-048, docket 2001-048-01.

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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