Bartkus v. Illinois

Appellant

Bartkus

Appellee

State of Illinois

Appellant's Claim

The Supreme Court should void his conviction for bank robbery by an Illinois court. A federal court already had tried and had acquitted him of the same crime.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Walter R. Fisher

Chief Lawyers for Appellee

William C. Wines, Latham Castle

Justices for the Court

Tom C. Clark, Felix Frankfurter (writing for the Court), John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Charles Evans Whittaker

Justices Dissenting

Hugo Lafayette Black, William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Earl Warren

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

30 March 1959

Decision

The Court denied Bartkus' appeal and affirmed his conviction. His second trial after a prior acquittal did not deny Bartkus due process of law.

Related Cases

• Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784 (1969).

Further Readings

• Ball, Howard, and Philip Cooper. Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Biskupic, Joan, and Elder Witt, eds. Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, 3rd ed. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1996.