Aetna Health Inc., Fka Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc. and Aetna U.S. Healthcare of North Texas Inc. v. Juan Davila

Decided June 21, 2004. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 02-1845 · 542 U.S. 200 (2004) · Cited 1,620 times

Holding

Section 1782(a) authorizes, but does not require, the District Court to provide discovery aid to AMD.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“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.

• Pegram v. Herdrich · 530 U.S. 211 (2000)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Taylor · 481 U.S. 58 (1987)
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Russell · 473 U.S. 134 (1985)
• Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon · 498 U.S. 133 (1990)
• Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · 481 U.S. 41 (1987)
• Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran · 536 U.S. 355 (2002)
• Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck · 471 U.S. 202 (1985)
• Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch · 489 U.S. 101 (1989)
• Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams · 482 U.S. 386 (1987)
• Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust for Southern Cal. · 463 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance v. Knudson · 534 U.S. 204 (2002)
• Beneficial National Bank v. Anderson · 539 U.S. 1 (2003)
• Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley · 211 U.S. 149 (1908)
• Varity Corp. v. Howe · 516 U.S. 489 (1996)
• Mertens v. Hewitt Associates · 508 U.S. 248 (1993)
• Black & Decker Disability Plan v. Nord · 538 U.S. 822 (2003)
• Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. · 451 U.S. 504 (1981)
• Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge No. 735, International Ass'n of MacHinists & Aerospace Workers · 390 U.S. 557 (1968)
• Taylor v. Anderson · 234 U.S. 74 (1914)
• United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC v. Rawson · 495 U.S. 362 (1990)

Cited by

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

• Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Glenn · 554 U.S. 105 (2008)
• Conkright v. Frommert · 559 U.S. 506 (2010)
• LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. · 552 U.S. 248 (2008)
• Liu v. SEC. & Exch. Comm'n · 591 U.S. 71 (2020)
• Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn. · 592 U.S. 80 (2020)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2004). 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).