mcwilliams v. dunn mcwilliams v. dunn mcwilliams v. dunn, 582 u.s. __ (2017), is a united states supreme court ruling that clarified ake v. oklahoma in relation to the case of convicted murderer, rapist and robber james e. mcwilliams. mcwilliams v. dunnsupreme court of the united statesargued april 24, 2017decided june 19, 2017full case namejames e. mcwilliams v. jefferson s. dunn, commissioner, alabama dept. of corrections, et al.docket no.16-5294citations582 u.s. __ (more)court membership chief justice john roberts associate justices anthony kennedy · clarence thomasruth bader ginsburg · stephen breyersamuel alito · sonia sotomayorelena kagan · neil gorsuch case opinionsmajoritybreyer, joined by kennedy, ginsburg, sotomayor, kagandissentalito, joined by roberts, thomas, gorsuch the court ruled 5–4 in favour of williams on the grounds of the defendant not having access to an independent mental health expert during his trial with the lower appellate court not considering this in the previous appeal, as written in the opinion authored by justice breyer.