Arthur Calderon, Warden v. Thomas Thompson

Decided April 29, 1998. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 97-215 · 523 U.S. 538 (1998) · Cited 1,326 times

Holding

Section 3713(a) does not require that a federal tax claim be given preference over a judgment creditor’s perfected lien on real property.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Schlup v. Delo · 513 U.S. 298 (1995)
• Sawyer v. Whitley · 505 U.S. 333 (1992)
• McCleskey v. Zant · 499 U.S. 467 (1991)
• Murray v. Carrier · 477 U.S. 478 (1986)
• Strickland v. Washington · 466 U.S. 668 (1984)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. v. Hartford-Empire Co. · 322 U.S. 238 (1944)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Kyles v. Whitley · 514 U.S. 419 (1995)
• Engle v. Isaac · 456 U.S. 107 (1982)
• National Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc. · 427 U.S. 639 (1976)
• Felker v. Turpin · 518 U.S. 651 (1996)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Wainwright v. Sykes · 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
• General Electric Co. v. Joiner · 522 U.S. 136 (1997)
• Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp. · 496 U.S. 384 (1990)
• Payne v. Tennessee · 501 U.S. 808 (1991)
• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Harris v. Reed · 489 U.S. 255 (1989)
• Smith v. Murray · 477 U.S. 527 (1986)
• Keeney v. Tamayo-Reyes · 504 U.S. 1 (1992)
• Wood v. Bartholomew · 516 U.S. 1 (1995)
• Western Pacific Railroad Corp. v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. · 345 U.S. 247 (1953)

Cited by

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

• McQuiggin v. Perkins · 569 U.S. 383 (2013)
• Gonzalez v. Crosby · 545 U.S. 524 (2005)
• Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez · 596 U.S. 366 (2022)
• Shoop v. Twyford · 596 U.S. 811 (2022)
• Davila v. Davis · 582 U.S. 521 (2017)
• Banister v. Davis · 590 U.S. 504 (2020)
• Ramirez v. Collier · 595 U.S. 411 (2022)
• Harrington v. Richter · 562 U.S. 86 (2011)
• Nelson v. Campbell · 541 U.S. 637 (2004)
• Hill v. McDonough · 547 U.S. 573 (2006)
• Horne v. Flores · 557 U.S. 433 (2009)
• Brown v. Davenport · 596 U.S. 118 (2022)
• Concepcion v. United States · 597 U.S. 481 (2022)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Anthony McLeod Kennedy’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).