Home > Great American Court Cases > Ford v. Wainwright

Legal Citation: 477 U.S. 399 (1986)

Appellant
Alvin Bernard Ford

Appellee
Louie L. Wainwright, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections

Appellant's Claim
That because Alvin Ford had become insane awaiting execution on death row, according to the Eighth Amendment, it would be cruel and unusual punishment to execute him; and that the way that Ford's sanity had been determined under Florida state law was a violation of Ford's right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant
Joy B. Shearer, Assistant Attorney General of Florida

Chief Lawyer for Appellee
Richard H. Burr III

Justices for the Court
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall (writing for the Court), Lewis F. Powell, Jr., John Paul Stevens

Justices Dissenting
Warren E. Burger, Sandra Day...