Adamson v. California

Appellant

Dewey Adamson

Appellee

The State of California

Appellant's Claim

That the state prosecutor who drew the jury's attention to Adamson's refusal to testify at his own murder trial violated the Fifth Amendment's ban on self-incrimination.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Morris Lavine

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Walter L. Bowers

Justices for the Court

Harold Burton, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H. Jackson, Stanley Forman Reed (writing for the Court), Wiley Blount Rutledge, Fred Moore Vinson

Justices Dissenting

Hugo Lafayette Black, Frank Murphy

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

23 June 1947

Decision

Finding that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not make all aspects of the Bill of Rights applicable at the state level, the Supreme Court declined to rule that the prosecutor had committed a crucial error and upheld Dewey's conviction.

Related Cases

• Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937).
• Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965).

Sources

West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Minneapolis, MN: West Publishing, 1998.

Further Readings

• Cortner, Richard C. The Supreme Court and the Second Bill of Rights. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981.
• The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights: The Incorporation Theory. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.
• Nelson, William E. The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988.