Azel P. Smith, et al. v. City of Jackson, Mississippi, et al.

Decided March 30, 2005. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 03-1160 · 544 U.S. 228 (2005) · Cited 580 times

Holding

The judgment is affirmed.

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 8–0.

“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.

• Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · 401 U.S. 424 (1971)
• Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins · 507 U.S. 604 (1993)
• General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v. Cline · 540 U.S. 581 (2004)
• Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio · 490 U.S. 642 (1989)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. · 510 U.S. 517 (1994)
• Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust · 487 U.S. 977 (1988)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wyoming · 460 U.S. 226 (1983)
• Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine · 450 U.S. 248 (1981)
• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · 431 U.S. 324 (1977)
• Lorillard v. Pons · 434 U.S. 575 (1978)
• Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers, Inc. v. United States · 286 U.S. 427 (1932)
• Northcross v. Memphis Board of Education · 412 U.S. 427 (1973)
• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts · 492 U.S. 158 (1989)
• United States v. Cleveland Indians Baseball Co. · 532 U.S. 200 (2001)
• Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Criswell · 472 U.S. 400 (1985)
• McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · 411 U.S. 792 (1973)
• Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. · 530 U.S. 133 (2000)
• United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc. · 489 U.S. 235 (1989)
• Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · 323 U.S. 134 (1944)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Robinson v. Shell Oil Co. · 519 U.S. 337 (1997)
• Christensen v. Harris County · 529 U.S. 576 (2000)
• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston · 469 U.S. 111 (1985)
• Desert Palace, Inc. v. Costa · 539 U.S. 90 (2003)
• O'CONNOR v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp. · 517 U.S. 308 (1996)
• Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation · 503 U.S. 258 (1992)
• Gregory v. Ashcroft · 501 U.S. 452 (1991)

Cited by

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

• Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory · 554 U.S. 84 (2008)
• Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. · 557 U.S. 167 (2009)
• United States v. Castleman · 572 U.S. 157 (2014)
• Chase Bank USA, N. A. v. McCoy · 562 U.S. 195 (2011)
• Marinello v. United States · 584 U.S. 1 (2018)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2005). 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).