Hamilton v. Alabama

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Hamilton v. Alabama

Argued October 17, 1961
Decided November 13, 1961

Full case name:	Hamilton v. Alabama

Citations:	368 U.S. 52; 82 S. Ct. 157; 7 L. Ed. 2d 114; 1961 U.S. LEXIS 167

Prior history:	Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Alabama

Holding

Absence of counsel for petitioner at the time of his arraignment violated his rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Charles Evans Whittaker, Potter Stewart

Case opinions

Majority by: Douglas
Joined by: unanimous

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Hamilton v. Alabama, 368 U.S. 52 (1961), was a case heard by the Supreme Court of the United States. Hamilton, charged in an Alabama court with breaking and entering a dwelling at night with intent to ravish, had pled not guilty. He had then been convicted and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the absence of counsel at the time of his arraignment violated his rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.