Aldinger v. Howard, Treasurer of Spokane County, et al.

Decided June 24, 1976. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-6521 · 427 U.S. 1 (1976) · Cited 947 times

Holding

A fair reading of the language used in 1343(3), together with the scope of 1983, under which counties are excluded from the "person(s)" answerable to the plaintiff "in an action at law (or) suit in equity" to redress the enumerated deprivations, requires a holding that the joinder of a municipal corporation, like the county here, for purposes of asserting a state-law claim not within federal jurisdiction, is without the District Court's statutory jurisdiction.

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 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.

• United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs · 383 U.S. 715 (1966)
• Moor v. County of Alameda · 411 U.S. 693 (1973)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Osborn v. Bank of United States · 22 U.S. 738 (1824)
• Hurn v. Oursler · 289 U.S. 238 (1933)
• Moore v. New York Cotton Exchange · 270 U.S. 593 (1926)
• Mitchum v. Foster · 407 U.S. 225 (1972)
• Stewart v. Dunham · 115 U.S. 61 (1885)
• Zwickler v. Koota · 389 U.S. 241 (1967)
• City of Kenosha v. Bruno · 412 U.S. 507 (1973)
• Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur v. Cauble · 255 U.S. 356 (1921)
• Philbrook v. Glodgett · 421 U.S. 707 (1975)

Cited by

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

• Finley v. United States · 490 U.S. 545 (1989)
• Owen Equipment & Erection Co. v. Kroger · 437 U.S. 365 (1978)
• Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Services, Inc. · 545 U.S. 546 (2005)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• Martinez v. California · 444 U.S. 277 (1980)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1976). 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).