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

Decided June 25, 1987. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-509 · 483 U.S. 587 (1987) · Cited 315 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.

• Lyng v. Castillo · 477 U.S. 635 (1986)
• Santosky v. Kramer · 455 U.S. 745 (1982)
• Califano v. Jobst · 434 U.S. 47 (1977)
• Weinberger v. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• Stanley v. Illinois · 405 U.S. 645 (1972)
• Moore v. City of East Cleveland · 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City · 438 U.S. 104 (1978)
• Lehr v. Robertson · 463 U.S. 248 (1983)
• Zablocki v. Redhail · 434 U.S. 374 (1978)
• Bowen v. Public Agencies Opposed to Social Security Entrapment · 477 U.S. 41 (1986)
• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality & Reform · 431 U.S. 816 (1977)
• Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur · 414 U.S. 632 (1974)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Goldberg v. Kelly · 397 U.S. 254 (1970)
• Griswold v. Connecticut · 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• Shapiro v. Thompson · 394 U.S. 618 (1969)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co. · 220 U.S. 61 (1911)
• King v. Smith · 392 U.S. 309 (1968)
• Agins v. City of Tiburon · 447 U.S. 255 (1980)
• Armstrong v. United States · 364 U.S. 40 (1960)
• Keystone Bituminous Coal Assn. v. DeBenedictis · 480 U.S. 470 (1987)
• Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. · 406 U.S. 164 (1972)
• Caban v. Mohammed · 441 U.S. 380 (1979)
• Trimble v. Gordon · 430 U.S. 762 (1977)
• Connolly v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation · 475 U.S. 211 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Sullivan v. Stroop · 496 U.S. 478 (1990)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Beach Communications, Inc. · 508 U.S. 307 (1993)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)

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).