United States v. Armstrong

United States v. Armstrong
United States v. Armstrong
	Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 26, 1996; Decided May 13, 1996
Full case name	United States v. Armstrong et al.
Citations	517 U.S. 456 (more) 116 S. Ct. 1480; 134 L. Ed. 2d 687
Case history
Prior	21 F.3d 1431 (9th Cir. 1994); Rehearing en banc granted, 31 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 1994); On rehearing, 48 F.3d 1508 (9th Cir. 1995); Cert. granted, 516 U.S. 942 (1995);
Holding
	The burden of proof for selective prosecution rests with the defendant, who must show the government declined to prosecute similarly situated suspects of other races.
Court membership
	Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor; Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy; David Souter · Clarence Thomas; Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg; Breyer (in part)
Concurrence	Souter
Concurrence	Ginsburg
Concurrence	Breyer (in part and in judgment)
Dissent	Stevens
Laws applied
	U.S. Const. amend. V

United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456 (1996), was a case heard by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the court held that the burden of proof for selective prosecution rests with the defendant, who must show the government declined to prosecute similarly situated suspects of other races.

Syllabus

Respondents filed a motion to dismiss their indictment for "crack" cocaine and other federal charges, alleging they were selected for prosecution based on their race. The motion was granted by the District Court and affirmed by the Ninth Circuit en banc, which ruled the proof requirements do not compel the defendant to demonstrate the Government has failed to prosecute others who are similarly situated.

The Supreme Court held that:

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16, which governs discovery in criminal cases, exempts the work product of Government attorneys and agents made in connection with the case's investigation.
Under the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the decision whether to prosecute may not be based on an arbitrary classification such as race or religion. Thus a defendant must produce credible evidence that similarly situated defendants of other races could have been prosecuted, but were not, in order to be entitled to discovery.

The Supreme Court reversed and remanded, 8–1. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the court, and was joined by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justice Stephen Breyer joined the majority opinion in part and also wrote a separate concurring opinion. Justice John P. Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion.

External links

Text of United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456 (1996) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)