Home > Great American Court Cases > Waller v. Georgia

Legal Citation: 467 U.S. 39 (1984)

Petitioner
Guy Waller

Respondent
State of Georgia

Petitioner's Claim
That the state's closure of a hearing to the public constituted a violation of the right to a public trial guaranteed under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner
Herbert Shafer

Chief Lawyer for Respondent
Mary Beth Westmoreland, Assistant Attorney General of Georgia

Justices for the Court
Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Warren E. Burger, Thurgood Marshall, Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (writing for the Court), William H. Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting
None

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
21 May 1984

Decision
That the conditions of the hearing closure failed...