Jones v. Cunningham, 371 U.S. 236 (1963) was a Supreme Court case in which the court first ruled that state inmates had the right to file a writ of habeas corpus challenging both the legality and the conditions of their imprisonment. Prior to this, starting with Pervear v. Massachusetts, 72 U.S. 475 (1866), the court had maintained a "hands off" policy regarding federal interference with state incarceration policies and practices, maintaining that the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states. Subsequently, in Cooper v. Pate (1964), an inmate successfully obtained standing to challenge the denial of his right to practice his religion through a habeas corpus writ. Warning: template has been deprecated.
United States Supreme Court
Jones v. Cunningham
Argued: Dec. 3, 1962. --- Decided: Jan 14, 1963
Daniel J. Meador, Charlottesville, Va., for petitioner.
Reno S. Harp, III, Richmond, Va., for respondent.
Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
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