Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company v. Sheila White

Decided June 22, 2006. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-259 · 548 U.S. 53 (2006) · Cited 7,269 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.

• Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth · 524 U.S. 742 (1998)
• Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. · 523 U.S. 75 (1998)
• Faragher v. City of Boca Raton · 524 U.S. 775 (1998)
• Robinson v. Shell Oil Co. · 519 U.S. 337 (1997)
• McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · 411 U.S. 792 (1973)
• Pennsylvania State Police v. Suders · 542 U.S. 129 (2004)
• Mitchell v. Robert DeMario Jewelry, Inc. · 361 U.S. 288 (1960)
• Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. · 530 U.S. 133 (2000)
• Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. · 510 U.S. 17 (1993)
• Hishon v. King & Spalding · 467 U.S. 69 (1984)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• McFarland v. Scott · 512 U.S. 849 (1994)
• Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 461 U.S. 731 (1983)
• Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education · 544 U.S. 167 (2005)
• Wachovia Bank, National Ass'n v. Schmidt · 546 U.S. 303 (2006)
• Pasquantino v. United States · 544 U.S. 349 (2005)
• Sullivan v. Everhart · 494 U.S. 83 (1990)
• West v. Gibson · 527 U.S. 212 (1999)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Scrivener · 405 U.S. 117 (1972)

Cited by

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

• Muldrow v. City of St. Louis · 601 U.S. 346 (2024)
• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Vance v. Ball State Univ. · 570 U.S. 421 (2013)
• CBOCS West, Inc. v. Humphries · 553 U.S. 442 (2008)
• Gomez-Perez v. Potter · 553 U.S. 474 (2008)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)

Official text

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

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Stephen Gerald Breyer’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).