Moore v. Dempsey

Moore et al. v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86 (1923), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled 6–2 that the defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It reversed the district court's decision declining the petitioners' writ of habeas corpus. This case was a precedent for the Supreme Court's review of state criminal trials in terms of their compliance with the Bill of Rights.

Moore v. Dempsey
Argued January 9, 1923
Decided February 19, 1923
Full case nameFrank Moore, et al. v. E. H. Dempsey, Keeper of Arkansas State Penitentiary
Citations261 U.S. 86 (more)
43 S. Ct. 265; 67 L. Ed. 543; 1923 U.S. LEXIS 2529
Case history
PriorDefendants convicted, Phillips County, Arkansas; affirmed, Arkansas Supreme Court; certiorari denied, U.S. Supreme Court; petition for habeas corpus granted, Pulaski County, Arkansas; vacated, Arkansas Supreme Court; petition for habeas corpus denied, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
Holding
Mob-dominated trials were a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Federal courts were furthermore duty-bound to review habeas corpus petitions that raised claims of discrimination in state trials, and to order the release of unfairly convicted defendants if the alleged violations were found to be true. Eastern District of Arkansas reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William H. Taft
Associate Justices
Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
Willis Van Devanter · James C. McReynolds
Louis Brandeis · George Sutherland
Pierce Butler · Edward T. Sanford
Case opinions
MajorityHolmes, joined by Taft, McKenna, Van Devanter, Brandeis, Butler
DissentMcReynolds, joined by Sutherland
Sanford took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV
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