Aaron v. Securities and Exchange Commission

Decided June 2, 1980. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-66 · 446 U.S. 680 (1980) · Cited 769 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder · 425 U.S. 185 (1976)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Capital Gains Research Bureau, Inc. · 375 U.S. 180 (1963)
• Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores · 421 U.S. 723 (1975)
• Affiliated Ute Citizens of Utah v. United States · 406 U.S. 128 (1972)
• Hecht Co. v. Bowles · 321 U.S. 321 (1944)
• Chiarella v. United States · 445 U.S. 222 (1980)
• Superintendent of Insurance of New York v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co. · 404 U.S. 6 (1971)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Sloan · 436 U.S. 103 (1978)
• United States v. Naftalin · 441 U.S. 768 (1979)
• Touche Ross & Co. v. Redington · 442 U.S. 560 (1979)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Co. · 416 U.S. 267 (1974)
• United Housing Foundation, Inc. v. Forman · 421 U.S. 837 (1975)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. C. M. Joiner Leasing Corp. · 320 U.S. 344 (1943)
• Andrus v. Allard · 444 U.S. 51 (1979)
• Armour Packing Co. v. United States · 209 U.S. 56 (1908)
• United States v. Rutherford · 442 U.S. 544 (1979)
• St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Barry · 438 U.S. 531 (1978)
• Coates v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 394 U.S. 976 (1969)
• Duparquet Huot & Moneuse Co. v. Evans · 297 U.S. 216 (1936)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Lorenzo v. SEC. & Exch. Comm'n · 587 U.S. 71 (2019)
• Dirks v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 463 U.S. 646 (1983)
• Central Bank of Denver, N. A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N. A. · 511 U.S. 164 (1994)
• Lindahl v. Office of Personnel Management · 470 U.S. 768 (1985)
• Basic Inc. v. Levinson · 485 U.S. 224 (1988)
• Rubin v. United States · 449 U.S. 424 (1981)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Bifulco v. United States · 447 U.S. 381 (1980)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 480 U.S. 522 (1987)
• Randall v. Loftsgaarden · 478 U.S. 647 (1986)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Potter Stewart’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).