Ashe v. Swenson

Ashe v. Swenson
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 13, 1969 Decided April 6, 1970
Full case name	Bob Fred Ashe, Petitioner v. Harold R. Swenson, Warden
Citations	397 U.S. 436 (more) 90 S.Ct. 1189
Holding
When an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan, Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall
Case opinions
Plurality	Stewart, joined by Douglas, White, Marshall
Concurrence	Black
Concurrence	Harlan
Concurrence	Brennan, joined by Douglas, Marshall
Dissent	Burger

Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (1970), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that "when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit." The Double Jeopardy Clause prevents a state from relitigating a question already decided in favor of a defendant at a previous trial. Here, the guarantee against double jeopardy enforceable through the Fifth Amendment provided that the government could not prosecute the criminal defendant in a second trial as it related to a different victim but the same robbery the criminal defendant was acquitted of in the first trial.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 397
• Waller v. Florida (1970)

External links

• Text of Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 (1970) is available from:  Findlaw  Justia 
• Summary of case from OYEZ