In 1976, Adolph Lyons was stopped by four white officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for driving with a broken tail light.

Count VI sought declaratory relief against the City, i. e., a judgment that use of the chokeholds absent the threat of immediate use of deadly force is a per se violation of various constitutional rights.

[2] In an opinion authored by Justice White, the Court held 5–4 that Lyons had failed to allege a sufficiently plausible threat of future injury to have standing to seek an injunction.

Justice Marshall's dissent argued that the majority's test would immunize from review any widespread policy that deprives constitutional rights when individuals cannot show with certainty that they would be subject to a repeat violation.

According to Alexander, one of the causes of such issues is the presence of implicit bias in the criminal justice system, including the courts and police officers.