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Supreme Court· 10/14/1968

Powell v. Texas

Citations

  • 392 U.S. 514
  • 88 S. Ct. 2145
  • 20 L. Ed. 2d 1254
  • 1968 U.S. LEXIS 1140

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • holding that a Texas statute criminalizing public drunkenness was not punishment for the status of being an alcoholic, but punishment for the act of being in public while drunk
  • holding that criminalization of being in public while drunk was not cruel and unusual to chronic alcoholics because it punished the act of drinking to drunkenness while in public, not being an alcoholic
  • holding that a state public intoxication statute was not unconstitutional because even if the defendant could not control whether he was intoxicated, he could nevertheless \be held responsible for his appearance in public in a state of intoxication\ (emphasis added)
  • recognizing Robinson rule that criminal penalties may be inflicted only if accused has committed act by contrast with status
  • stating that the Court has never adopted a constitutional doctrine of mens rea, leaving negotiation of such issues to the states
  • noting that the United States Supreme Court \has never articulated a general constitutional doctrine of mens rea\

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Justice

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

471 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

16 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

Other cases named Powell v. Texas

14 other CourtListener records share this case name.

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.