Wisconsin v. Mitchell

Not to be confused with Mitchell v. Wisconsin.

Wisconsin v. Mitchell
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 21, 1993
Decided June 11, 1993
Full case nameWisconsin v. Todd Mitchell
Citations508 U.S. 476 (more)
113 S. Ct. 2194; 124 L. Ed. 2d 436; 1993 U.S. LEXIS 4024; 61 U.S.L.W. 4575; 21 Media L. Rep. 1520; 93 Cal. Daily Op. Service 4314; 93 Daily Journal DAR 7353
Case history
PriorDefendant convicted, Kenosha County Circuit Court; affirmed, 473 N.W.2d 1 (Wis. App. 1991); reversed, 485 N.W.2d 807 (Wis. 1992); cert. granted, 506 U.S. 1033 (1992)
SubsequentOn remand, affirmed, 504 N.W.2d 610 (Wis. 1993)
Holding
Enhanced sentencing for bias-motivated crimes does not violate a defendant's First Amendment rights. Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
Byron White · Harry Blackmun
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Case opinion
MajorityRehnquist, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I; Wis. Stat. § 939.645

Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that enhanced penalties for hate crimes do not violate criminal defendants' First Amendment rights.[1] It was a landmark precedent pertaining to First Amendment free speech arguments for hate crime legislation.[2] In effect, the Court ruled that a state may consider whether a crime was committed or initially considered due to an intended victim's status in a protected class.[3]

  1. ^ Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476, 479 (1993).
  2. ^ Tina M. Fielding Fryling, Constitutional Law in Criminal Justice 10 (2014).
  3. ^ Thomas D. Brooks, First Amendment--Penalty Enhancement for Hate Crimes: Content Regulation, Questionable State Interests and Non-Traditional Sentencing, 84 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 703, 703 (1994).