Brown v. Hartlage

Decided April 5, 1982. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-1285 · 456 U.S. 45 (1982) · Cited 266 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 9–0.

“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.

• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Mills v. Alabama · 384 U.S. 214 (1966)
• Monitor Patriot Co. v. Roy · 401 U.S. 265 (1971)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. · 455 U.S. 489 (1982)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 557 (1980)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations · 413 U.S. 376 (1973)
• Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Ocala Star-Banner Co. v. Damron · 401 U.S. 295 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Republican Party of Minnesota v. White · 536 U.S. 765 (2002)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)
• Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, County of Norfolk · 457 U.S. 596 (1982)
• Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 · 567 U.S. 298 (2012)
• Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan · 564 U.S. 117 (2011)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• Meyer v. Grant · 486 U.S. 414 (1988)
• Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc. · 525 U.S. 182 (1999)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Federal Communications Commission v. League of Women Voters of California · 468 U.S. 364 (1984)
• Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce · 494 U.S. 652 (1990)
• United Steelworkers of America v. Sadlowski · 457 U.S. 102 (1982)

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).