Barbara Dolan v. United States Postal Service et al.

Decided February 22, 2006. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-848 · 546 U.S. 481 (2006) · Cited 655 times

Holding

Because the postal exception is inapplicable in this case, Dolan’s claim may go forward.

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.

• Kosak v. United States · 465 U.S. 848 (1984)
• Lane v. Pena · 518 U.S. 187 (1996)
• Gustafson v. Alloyd Co. · 513 U.S. 561 (1995)
• United States v. Yellow Cab Co. · 340 U.S. 543 (1951)
• Federal Deposit Insurance v. Meyer · 510 U.S. 471 (1994)
• Dalehite v. United States · 346 U.S. 15 (1953)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• United States Postal Service v. Flamingo Industries (USA) Ltd. · 540 U.S. 736 (2004)
• United States v. Orleans · 425 U.S. 807 (1976)
• United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe · 537 U.S. 465 (2003)
• United States v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. · 338 U.S. 366 (1949)
• Jarecki v. G. D. Searle & Co. · 367 U.S. 303 (1961)
• Dole v. United Steelworkers · 494 U.S. 26 (1990)
• Molzof v. United States · 502 U.S. 301 (1992)

Cited by

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

• Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons · 552 U.S. 214 (2008)
• Winkelman Ex Rel. Winkelman v. Parma City School District · 550 U.S. 516 (2007)
• Chamber of Commerce of United States of America v. Whiting · 563 U.S. 582 (2011)
• Florida Department of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc. · 554 U.S. 33 (2008)
• Ricci v. DeStefano · 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
• Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper · 566 U.S. 284 (2012)
• Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T Inc. · 562 U.S. 397 (2011)
• Levin v. United States · 568 U.S. 503 (2013)

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 (2006). 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).