Rummel v. Estelle
| Rummel v. Estelle | |
|---|---|
| Argued January 7, 1980 Decided March 18, 1980 | |
| Full case name | William James Rummel v. Estelle, Corrections Director |
| Citations | 445 U.S. 263 (more) 100 S. Ct. 1133; 63 L. Ed. 2d 382; 1980 U.S. LEXIS 90 |
| Holding | |
| The Texas state court's decision was affirmed, that life in prison with possibility of parole is not cruel and unusual punishment for a habitual offender convicted of passing bad checks. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun |
| Concurrence | Stewart |
| Dissent | Powell, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Stevens |
Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263 (1980), (sometimes erroneously cited as Rummel v. Estell) was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld a life sentence with the possibility of parole under Texas' three strikes law for a felony fraud crime, where the offense and the defendant's two prior offenses involved approximately $230 of fraudulent activity (worth $847 in 2023 dollars, or about four 40-hour weeks at the contemporary Texas minimum wage of $1.40/hour).