Butz et al. v. Economou et al.

Decided June 29, 1978. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-709 · 438 U.S. 478 (1978) · Cited 3,397 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 5–4.

“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.

• Spalding v. Vilas · 161 U.S. 483 (1896)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Barr v. Matteo · 360 U.S. 564 (1959)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Bradley v. Fisher · 80 U.S. 335 (1872)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Pierson v. Ray · 386 U.S. 547 (1967)
• Wood v. Strickland · 420 U.S. 308 (1975)
• Bates v. Clark · 95 U.S. 204 (1877)
• Little v. Barreme · 6 U.S. 170 (1804)
• District of Columbia v. Carter · 409 U.S. 418 (1973)
• Doe v. McMillan · 412 U.S. 306 (1973)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• United States v. Lee · 106 U.S. 196 (1882)
• Howard v. Lyons · 360 U.S. 593 (1959)
• Stump v. Sparkman · 435 U.S. 349 (1978)
• Osborn v. Bank of United States · 22 U.S. 738 (1824)
• Dalehite v. United States · 346 U.S. 15 (1953)
• Zwickler v. Koota · 389 U.S. 241 (1967)
• O'Connor v. Donaldson · 422 U.S. 563 (1975)
• Procunier v. Navarette · 434 U.S. 555 (1978)
• Willingham v. Morgan · 395 U.S. 402 (1969)
• Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath · 339 U.S. 33 (1950)
• Tennessee v. Davis · 100 U.S. 257 (1880)
• Cunningham v. MacOn & Brunswick R. Co. · 109 U.S. 446 (1883)

Cited by

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

• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• United States v. Stanley · 483 U.S. 669 (1987)
• Cleavinger v. Saxner · 474 U.S. 193 (1985)
• Hanrahan v. Hampton · 446 U.S. 754 (1980)
• Carlson v. Green · 446 U.S. 14 (1980)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority · 535 U.S. 743 (2002)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Briscoe v. LaHue · 460 U.S. 325 (1983)
• Burns v. Reed · 500 U.S. 478 (1991)
• Davis v. Scherer · 468 U.S. 183 (1984)
• Buckley v. Fitzsimmons · 509 U.S. 259 (1993)
• Forrester v. White · 484 U.S. 219 (1988)
• Anderson v. Creighton · 483 U.S. 635 (1987)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 440 U.S. 391 (1979)
• Richardson v. McKnight · 521 U.S. 399 (1997)
• Ferri v. Ackerman · 444 U.S. 193 (1979)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Malley v. Briggs · 475 U.S. 335 (1986)
• Lucia v. SEC · 585 U.S. 237 (2018)
• Wyatt v. Cole · 504 U.S. 158 (1992)
• Antoine v. Byers & Anderson, Inc. · 508 U.S. 429 (1993)
• Pearson v. Callahan · 555 U.S. 223 (2009)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Mireles v. Waco · 502 U.S. 9 (1991)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Gomez v. Toledo · 446 U.S. 635 (1980)

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).