Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County, et al. v. Lindsay Earls et al.
Decided June 27, 2002. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 01-332 · 536 U.S. 822 (2002) · Cited 498 times
Holding
The program does not offend the Establishment Clause.
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.
Majority · 4
- Clarence Thomas · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Antonin Scalia
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
Concurring · 1
- Stephen Gerald Breyer · filed a concurring opinion
Dissenting · 4
- David Hackett Souter
- John Paul Stevens
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg · filed a dissenting opinion
- Sandra Day O'Connor · filed a dissenting opinion
“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.
- Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
- Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
- Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
- New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
- National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
- Griffin v. Wisconsin · 483 U.S. 868 (1987)
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
- United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
- United States v. Diebold, Inc. · 369 U.S. 654 (1962)
- Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
- West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
- Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
- Lee v. Weisman · 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
- United States v. Biswell · 406 U.S. 311 (1972)
- Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser · 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
- PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin · 532 U.S. 661 (2001)
- Ferguson v. City of Charleston · 532 U.S. 67 (2001)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Morse v. Frederick · 551 U.S. 393 (2007)
- Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
- Christian Legal Soc. Chapter of Univ. of Cal., Hastings College of Law v. Martinez · 561 U.S. 661 (2010)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2002). 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).