Murray v. Giarratano
United States Supreme Court
492 U.S. 1, 109 S. Ct. 2765, 106 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1989)
- Written by Robert Cane, JD
Facts
Joseph Giarratano (plaintiff) filed a pro se complaint in federal district court against Virginia state officials including the director of the Virginia Department of Corrections, Edward Murray (defendants). Later, the district court certified a class of plaintiffs made up of all current and future indigent Virginia death-row inmates who were seeking or might seek postconviction relief. The district court found that Virginia’s provision of access to the prison law library and lawbooks was inadequate. The court of appeals panel reversed the district court judgment. The court of appeals reheard the case en banc and affirmed the district court based on special considerations related to death-row inmates, reasoning that Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987), did not control the case. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rehnquist, C.J.)
Concurrence (Kennedy, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.