Irvine v. California (347 U.S. 128)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 8, 1954 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 347 U.S. 128 · 74 S. Ct. 381
- Docket
- No. 12
- Argued
- November 30, 1953
- Decided
- February 8, 1954
- Term
- October Term 1953
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson (R.H.)
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Warren, Justice Reed, Justice Minton, Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote)
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Clark (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Black (wrote), Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Burton
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Jackson announced the judgment of the Court and an opinion in which The Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Reed and Mr. Justice Minton join. This case involves constitutional questions growing out of methods employed to convict petitioner on charges of horse-race bookmaking and related offenses against the antigambling laws of California. Petitioner exhausted all avenues to relief under state procedures and then sought review here of duly raised federal issues. We granted certiorari on a petition which tendered four questions. However, petitioner’s counsel has now presented two additional questions, one concerning the application of an immunity statute of California and another attacking certain instructions given to the jury by the trial court. Neither of these was mentioned in the petition. We disapprove the practice of smuggling additional questions into a case after we grant certiorari. The issues here are fixed by the petition unless we limit the grant, as frequently we do to avoid settled, frivolous or state law questions. We do not take up the questions numbered 3 and' 6 of petitioner’s brief because they are improperly presented. Upon his arrest, petitioner had on his person a federal wagering tax stamp bearing his name, home address and the date, November 5, 1951. Against objection, it and other documentary evidence from the office of the United States Collector…
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