Brown v. Western Railway of Alabama

Decided November 21, 1949. Hugo Lafayette Black delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 43 · 338 U.S. 294 (1949) · Cited 241 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 6–2.

“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.

• Davis v. Wechsler · 263 U.S. 22 (1923)
• Guaranty Trust Co. v. York · 326 U.S. 99 (1945)
• Brady v. Southern Railway Co. · 320 U.S. 476 (1944)
• Central Vermont Railway Co. v. White · 238 U.S. 507 (1915)
• Covington & Lexington Turnpike Road Co. v. Sandford · 164 U.S. 578 (1896)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Second Employers'liability Cases · 223 U.S. 1 (1912)
• Angel v. Bullington · 330 U.S. 183 (1947)
• Bailey v. Central Vermont Railway, Inc. · 319 U.S. 350 (1943)
• Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co. · 317 U.S. 239 (1942)
• Ragan v. Merchants Transfer & Warehouse Co. · 337 U.S. 530 (1949)
• Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad v. Bombolis · 241 U.S. 211 (1916)
• St. Louis, San Francisco & Texas Railway Co. v. Seale · 229 U.S. 156 (1913)
• Douglas v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad · 279 U.S. 377 (1929)
• Lillie v. Thompson · 332 U.S. 459 (1947)
• First Nat. Bank of Guthrie Center v. Anderson · 269 U.S. 341 (1926)
• Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Renn · 241 U.S. 290 (1916)
• Maty v. Grasselli Chemical Co. · 303 U.S. 197 (1938)

Cited by

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

• Felder v. Casey · 487 U.S. 131 (1988)
• Zorach v. Clauson · 343 U.S. 306 (1952)
• Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. U. · 489 U.S. 468 (1989)
• Southland Corp. v. Keating · 465 U.S. 1 (1984)
• Ackermann v. United States · 340 U.S. 193 (1950)
• Walker v. Martin · 562 U.S. 307 (2011)
• Dice v. Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad · 342 U.S. 359 (1952)
• Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. Liepelt · 444 U.S. 490 (1980)
• Burks v. Lasker · 441 U.S. 471 (1979)
• Johnson v. Fankell · 520 U.S. 911 (1997)
• Monessen Southwestern Railway Co. v. Morgan · 486 U.S. 330 (1988)
• Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad v. Stude · 346 U.S. 574 (1954)
• Lathrop v. Donohue · 367 U.S. 820 (1961)
• St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Dickerson · 470 U.S. 409 (1985)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Hugo Lafayette Black’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).