American Telephone and Telegraph Company v. Central Office Telephone, Inc.

Decided June 15, 1998. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 97-679 · 524 U.S. 214 (1998) · Cited 376 times

Holding

State prisons fall squarely within Title II’s statutory definition of “public entity,” which includes “any...instrumentality of a State...

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 7–1.

“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.

• Chicago & Alton Railroad v. Kirby · 225 U.S. 155 (1912)
• Keogh v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. · 260 U.S. 156 (1922)
• Maislin Industries, U. S., Inc. v. Primary Steel, Inc. · 497 U.S. 116 (1990)
• Nader v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc. · 426 U.S. 290 (1976)
• MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. · 512 U.S. 218 (1994)
• Adams Express Company v. Croninger · 226 U.S. 491 (1912)
• Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co. v. Hall · 453 U.S. 571 (1981)
• United States Navigation Co. v. Cunard Steamship Co. · 284 U.S. 474 (1932)

Cited by

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

• Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
• Pacific Bell Telephone Co. v. Linkline Communications, Inc. · 555 U.S. 438 (2009)
• Global Crossing Telecommunications, Inc. v. Metrophones Telecommunications, Inc. · 550 U.S. 45 (2007)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian · 590 U.S. 1 (2020)
• Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. · 529 U.S. 861 (2000)
• United States v. Locke · 529 U.S. 89 (2000)
• Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran · 536 U.S. 355 (2002)
• Haywood v. Drown · 556 U.S. 729 (2009)
• Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion Cty. v. Talevski · 599 U.S. 166 (2023)

Official text

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

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Antonin Scalia’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1998). 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).