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the time knew precisely where he was, retained the power to stay off or leave the streets, and simply preferred to be there rather than elsewhere." The absence of such evidence precluded Powell's claim—regardless of whether his claim would otherwise have succeeded. Thus, Powell concluded, it was unnecessary for the Court to opine further on the legal questions presented in the case (as the plurality had done).
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to apply to this case, the Court would have to find not only that Powell was compelled to drink but also that he was compelled to be in public—an element of the crime. Yet Powell provided no evidence to support that conclusion. Indeed, Powell "had a home," and "or all we know from this record, at
451:
Justices Black and Harlan joined
Marshall's plurality opinion. But in a separate concurrence, Justice Black (joined by Justice Harlan) expounded on the plurality's reasoning. He wrote that striking down public intoxication laws "would significantly limit the States in their efforts to deal with a
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was then called); Powell was once again found guilty and was once again fined $ 20. This time, though, his defense counsel appealed the conviction to the Travis County Court of Law No. 1 on the grounds that Powell could not be arrested for being an alcoholic. The County Court heard the case
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Four members of the Court concluded that Powell, the defendant who was convicted of public intoxication, "was convicted, not for being a chronic alcoholic, but for being in public while drunk on a particular occasion." Therefore, the Texas statute was not criminalizing the condition of
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The defendant, Leroy Powell, worked in a tavern shining shoes for which he received approximately $ 12/week. Though Powell had a family, he provided no support to them but would use his paycheck to buy wine, which he drank daily and, about once a week, to the point of intoxication.
402:). Each time, he would be fined $ 20 (for Travis County offenses) or $ 25 (for Bastrop County offenses); he would almost always have no means to pay the fine and was thus obliged to work off the fine in jail at the rate of $ 5/day.
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widespread and important social problem and would do so by announcing a revolutionary doctrine of constitutional law that would also tightly restrict state power to deal with a wide variety of other harmful conduct."
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In this specific case, Powell was arrested in Travis County in late
December 1966 on yet another public intoxication charge. His case was heard before the Corporation Court of Austin, Texas (what the Austin
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Justice White did not join the plurality opinion (had he done so, that would have made it a majority opinion). Instead, he concurred only in its judgment affirming Powell's conviction. In his view, for
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and Powell was again found guilty and fined him $ 50. As no further appeals were available for Powell within the Texas judicial system, his counsel appealed to the United States
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Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1 of Travis County, Texas.
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1968 U.S. Supreme Court case on criminalizing public intoxication
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each wrote separate concurring opinions while
Justice
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346:case that ruled that a
330:U.S. Const. amend. VIII
303:Black, joined by Harlan
1325:Excessive Fines Clause
1189:Robinson v. California
805:California v. Anderson
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674:Robinson v. California
666:Weems v. United States
436:Robinson v. California
350:statute criminalizing
255:William J. Brennan Jr.
1296:Excessive Bail Clause
1037:Panetti v. Quarterman
917:Maynard v. Cartwright
400:Bastrop County, Texas
362:. The 5–4 decision's
150:Decided June 17, 1968
1053:Kennedy v. Louisiana
949:Whitmore v. Arkansas
941:Stanford v. Kentucky
925:Thompson v. Oklahoma
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419:Opinion of the Court
396:Travis County, Texas
354:did not violate the
148:Argued March 7, 1968
45:improve this article
1229:Helling v. McKinney
1154:Hudson v. McMillian
1120:Corporal punishment
1109:Bucklew v. Precythe
845:Spaziano v. Florida
746:Virginia v. LeBlanc
706:Ewing v. California
587:Library of Congress
447:Concurring opinions
358:protection against
352:public intoxication
183:88 S. Ct. 2145; 20
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1146:Ingraham v. Wright
1101:Madison v. Alabama
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893:Ford v. Wainwright
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682:Rummel v. Estelle
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38:verification
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1122:or injuries
808:(Cal. 1972)
382:dissented.
376:Byron White
308:Concurrence
300:Concurrence
267:Byron White
227:Earl Warren
1391:Categories
499:References
431:alcoholism
386:Background
380:Abe Fortas
372:Hugo Black
370:. Justice
271:Abe Fortas
235:Hugo Black
71:newspapers
292:Plurality
185:L. Ed. 2d
165:Citations
637:case law
543:Text of
477:See also
471:Robinson
458:Robinson
569:Findlaw
560:Cornell
413:de novo
316:Dissent
206:Holding
85:scholar
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374:and
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170:U.S.
168:392
64:news
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47:by
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627:e
620:t
613:v
181:)
175:(
114:)
108:(
103:)
99:(
89:·
82:·
75:·
68:·
41:.
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