Bowen, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. v. Massachusetts

Decided June 29, 1988. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-712 · 487 U.S. 879 (1988) · Cited 1,281 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“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.

• United States v. Testan · 424 U.S. 392 (1976)
• Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp. · 337 U.S. 682 (1949)
• Connecticut Department of Income Maintenance v. Heckler · 471 U.S. 524 (1985)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Cort v. Ash · 422 U.S. 66 (1975)
• Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co. · 467 U.S. 986 (1984)
• Glidden Co. v. Zdanok · 370 U.S. 530 (1962)
• Bell v. United States · 366 U.S. 393 (1961)
• Richardson v. Morris · 409 U.S. 464 (1972)
• Lipp v. United States · 373 U.S. 932 (1963)
• Montana v. United States · 440 U.S. 147 (1979)
• Bishop v. Wood · 426 U.S. 341 (1976)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• Gaines v. Miller · 111 U.S. 395 (1884)
• Harris v. McRae · 448 U.S. 297 (1980)
• United States v. King · 395 U.S. 1 (1969)
• School Committee of the Town of Burlington v. Department of Education · 471 U.S. 359 (1985)
• Block v. North Dakota Ex Rel. Board of University & School Lands · 461 U.S. 273 (1983)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Thompson v. Thompson · 484 U.S. 174 (1988)
• Shaughnessy v. Pedreiro · 349 U.S. 48 (1955)
• United States v. Mottaz · 476 U.S. 834 (1986)
• Schoenthal v. Irving Trust Co. · 287 U.S. 92 (1932)
• United States v. Acme Process Equipment Co. · 385 U.S. 138 (1966)
• Lee v. Thornton · 420 U.S. 139 (1975)

Cited by

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

• Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc. · 525 U.S. 255 (1999)
• Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance v. Knudson · 534 U.S. 204 (2002)
• Department of Education v. California · 604 U.S. 650 (2025)
• Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow · 542 U.S. 1 (2004)
• Darby v. Cisneros · 509 U.S. 137 (1993)
• Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg · 492 U.S. 33 (1989)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel · 524 U.S. 498 (1998)
• United States v. Tohono O’odham Nation · 563 U.S. 307 (2011)
• United States v. Bormes · 568 U.S. 6 (2012)
• Trump v. J. G. G. · 604 U.S. 670 (2025)
• Luna Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools · 598 U.S. 142 (2023)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).